Yin and Yang: the Balance
by Tenshi no Yupiteru
Summary: The harmony of the universe depends on the balance maintained between the two interacting forces that sustain the cosmos. What was Albus Dumbledore hiding that will affect this balance and who is the Balance between Yin and Yang?
1. Misery Loves Company

Chapter 1: _Misery Loves Company _

Even from five thousand miles away, she felt it.

Shock rang true throughout her body over the event that transpired merely a few days ago, combined with deep regret and a twisted bit of rage that she was unable to explain. The young woman mused over these emotions while turning around a plastic black 'eight' ball, not bothering to question the toy that was incapable of predicting the future.

Sitting in this 'safe house', she concluded that she was to blame for what had occurred - she knew it all too well. Looking up at the only light shining in the sky, a deep sigh emitted from her soft cherry lips. The thin crescent moon, lighting up the midnight colored sky in a soft white light, was the only object capable of holding her attention.

A pair of eyes looked back down at the object in her hands - _**why**_ hadn't she been there? And _**why**_ was she still here - in _**this**_ house? What made this happen? Turning the plastic ball over, she looked at the message printed in white that was surrounded by blue liquid.

IT IS TIME.

She let out a short, rather harsh, bitter sounding laugh while mentally scoffing at the ball, _'Oh, the irony of such a small phrase…'_

Moving off the white window seat, she silently raised her arms above her hand and twisted to the right, then to the left before hearing a quick, sharp _**snap**_. Shaking each leg, she felt the stiffness slowly let out. The young girl then made her way to her closet, baby blue pajama pants trailing behind her feet. Attempting to quietly open the creaky mahogany door, the girl only heard a slight squeak before roughly shoving all of her clothes to the front of the closet. Her eyes caught sight of the rusty colored large trunk, trimmed in dusty silver that she had not used for what seemed like an eternity. Yanking several times on the handle, she managed to pull the trunk out only to have it drop down on her ankle with a soft thud. Biting her bottom lip stopped her from swearing, but not from whimpering in pain.

'_It's going to be a long night… with no sleep… oh joy!'_ she sarcastically thought with a twinge of misery as she removed her ankle from underneath the weight of the trunk.

Several demanding, precise taps on her window drew her attention away from the trunk and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

'_No way… what is he doing here? …Oh, I know the answer to that… it's the last of the signs to return…' _

She slowly got up from the trunk and opened the two windows that she had just been sitting under a few minutes ago; a fire colored bird flew in and landed on her white dresser on the opposite side of the room. Her eyes were glued to the majestic bird with piercing gold eyes that were considerably sad since the last time she had seen them. Raising a pallid hand, she stroked the bird's ruffled feathers - straightening them - before benevolently petting the sad phoenix.

"I know Fawkes… what are we going to do?"

Golden orbs did not reveal anything to her - just an unbearable sadness that had crept into the bird's heart when _**it**_ had happened. Welling up with tears, she flung both arms around the bird, seeking comfort from the last living possession she had left from her late grandfather's - his never-aging, magnificent phoenix.

Quickly releasing the phoenix, the twenty-year-old murmured to herself, "It's time to pack… I'm going to need a cage for you, ne Fawkes?"

Fawkes did not respond, only perched himself upon her bare shoulder as she began to collect the necessities she would be using. Her old robes - which needed to be replaced, her undergarments, socks, several pairs of shoes, books, a broom, her wand, two scarves, an old hairbrush that had been her late mother's, a toothbrush with toothpaste, other pieces of clothing that would get her through her travel, a cloak, a gold locket, her stuffed rabbit and several pictures. She paused to study these pictures, looking at each of them as she traced the figures with her index finger. Sealing the trunk, she dug around her desk drawers for paper and a pencil. Letting go of yet another deep sigh, she sat down and began writing to her three adoptive family members she had left in her life. After reading these letters, she doubted they would still be her family.

Four hours later, she wrung her right hand, tense from writing, and looked over at the phoenix that was now sleeping peacefully on the silver rim of her headboard. She smiled for the first time that night before making her way to the moon and star covered bed. Lifted the heavy covers, she crawled in, and instantly allowed the arms of Morpheus and Hypnos to envelope her. [1]

xXx

Five thousand miles away in London, England or more specifically, Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it was the start of a brand new day.

The streams of light were creeping into the disturbingly silent windows, doors and hallways of the school, filling the great institution with a sense of loss, regret and sinking depression that no one managed to escape.

The new headmistress sighed and rubbed her temples. She had just woken up and was now sitting in the Headmaster or Headmistress' office, but it only brought her to fresh tears because everything in this cramped space reminded her of the former Headmaster - Albus Dumbledore. Oddly enough, it reminded her that she would need to hire a new teacher to teach the students, if they even had any, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The only reason Albus Dumbledore's death had anything to do with the position of the Defense against the Dark Arts was the grim fact that the previous professor had cold bloodedly murdered the Headmaster using the fatal Killing Curse. She shivered subconsciously, _'To think he could have done such a thing. And we all trusted him after Dumbledore announced that no one would judge him.'_

A depressing fact that the man had had enough guts to betray the deceased man; Albus had entrusted him with a variety of information and had his full trust. Not to mention going against the one person who believed he had changed and the only one who would have stood by his side. To think that man had played with the former Headmaster's granddaughter. It was revolting enough for her to want to rip out his heart - if he even had one.

'_Just where am I going to find another professor capable of teaching the supposed cursed position?'_

Her attention turned from the daunting windows and school grounds, finally resting her gaze to a silver trunk several yards away, placed next to the entrance of the office - the rotating spiral staircase. That trunk held all the rest of Albus Dumbledore's possessions. There was no one who would come to collect them for she no longer knew where his only relative had been sent off to. In fact, he had not even mentioned her once since the girl's departure, where she was sent or if they would ever see her again.

Her eyes fell on the papers that she would have to grade sooner or later; it could wait. She moved them into another corner of the dusty office that was usually sparkling clean without a trace of dust to be found. Then she remembered that the students would be excused from school after the funeral procession. Professor Dumbledore would be the only man to ever be buried on Hogwarts' grounds - with or without the consent of the Minister and the Ministry of Magic.

'_This is all happening way too fast, Albus. You were supposed to retire before I became Headmistress… not die, especially the way you did…'_

She knew it would be a rocky start at the beginning of her role as Headmistress. If only she had all the support, respect and knowledge that Albus, her dear friend, had had when he was alive. It was also a shame that the Boy-Who-Lived, otherwise known as Harold James Potter, would not tell her about what he had been discussing with the late headmaster. Dumbledore still had influence when he was dead, she noted solemnly, if not more so than when he was alive.

'_Maybe if I bring her back… maybe she would be able to open Harry up; she could help him. I don't know how to help him, Albus. What did you tell him, that he could not mention it to anyone else? Do you think she would be able to help him with whatever it was that the two of you discussed? Oh, Albus, where is she; where did you send your beloved granddaughter? It just won't be the same without you…'_

xXx

Twirling a strand of her waist-length violet hair in-between her index and thumb, her lavender eyes narrowed at the gently flowing river. She was waiting for something interesting to happen; she really wanted _something_ to happen before she became bored out of her pretty little mind.

She had let her dark hair grow out since she turned sixteen, and surprisingly enough, it grew quite fast - a bit too fast for her liking - but the waist-length suited her.

A dull, harsh wind quickly whipped around the edge of the river and she subconsciously tugged on her violet skirt. Softly whining to no one, "Why couldn't our fuku skirts at least be knee-length? I would be **so** much warmer down here!"

Nothing happened in the depths of Hades, or more accurately, the River Styx [2] - at least not usually. Just Charon [3] - the anorexic looking ferryman, who had soft white hair; even though he was barely over twenty-one and had a distant pair of brown eyes, he kept coming back and forth on his boat. One more dead spirit entering into the "other side" each time, then Charon disappearing to retrieve another soul.

Twirling a six and a half foot glaive with a g-shape at the top, she patiently waited. Looking towards the opening of the River Styx, she decided Charon wasn't coming as quickly as he had for the last several weeks - due to the on-going war in some diminutive dimension she had never heard of. Thus she decided to plop down behind the iron-wrought gates and wait.

Before she could even finish her first game with a summoned deck of tarot cards, she heard two voices - that was extremely unusual. None of the dead spirits were allowed to talk on their journey on the River Styx, otherwise Hades [4] - the Lord of the Underworld - would sentence them to a trial, to receive their punishment; unless Persephone [4] was with him, then he gave them a simple punishment that his pallid wife would agree to, which was far and few between.

Dropping her tarot cards, she stood up and pointed her glaive towards the in-coming boat, eyes narrowing to thin slits. Her heart began to beat faster when she heard a rather familiar voice …

_- She - she died? But…how? And when? -_

_- Had there been a surprise enemy? Why hadn't she been informed or summoned help? -_

_- Were the others coming? Who had died? -_

As these questions ran through her mind, she prepared herself for the worst.

* * *

[1] ~ _Morpheus; Hypnos_

Morpheus is Hypnos' son, God of Dreams from Greek Mythology. Hypnos is God of Sleep.

[2] ~ _Hades; Styx_

Hades is a reference to the Underworld of Greek Mythology; Styx is the river in Hades.

[3] ~ _Charon_

The Greek Mythology ferryman who brings in the dead spirits on the River Styx.

[4] ~ _Hades; Persephone_

This is a reference to the God of the Underworld of Greek Mythology; Persephone is his wife.


	2. Red Eyes

Chapter 2: _Red Eyes_

Streams of light shone down and crept up onto a dark blue bed, adding sparkles to long gold-silver tresses that were fanned out. An unhappy growl escaped rose colored lips before the person flipped over and flung the pillow over her head to hide from the rising sun. A soft cooing sounded from a crimson colored bird perched on the silver metal headboard whose golden eyes studied the person attempting to go back to sleep.

"Alright Fawkes, I'm getting up…" came the grumbling response. The person was revealed to be a female as she sat from her waist up and yawned, not bothering to hide it behind a hand. Raising her arms above her head she stretched them, beginning to breathe in as much air as possible, before rubbing her sleepy eyes, which opened to reveal a pair of sapphire orbs with silver flecks that seemed to mirror the stars at night.

Fawkes - the crimson phoenix - stretched his wings all the way and then closed them, before rubbing his head against her exposed pallid neck. She softly giggled and raised her hand to rub the phoenix's head in a loving manner when she caught sight of a piece of parchment attached to a leg of the beautifully wine colored bird.

"Hold still, Fawkes," she ordered as her fingers gently untied the knotted string and ripped open the attached envelope. "Good boy… I'm sorry I don't have a treat for you, but we're going shopping today and we'll buy some for you - does that sound alright?"

The phoenix trilled happily in response to his mistress. Pulling out the letter, she immediately recognized the handwriting as her grandfather's and quickly skimmed the three page letter that he had written some time ago. Her eyes welled up with tears as she realized how hard her life was about to become. The letter remained on her bed as she climbed out of bed and went straight to her desk, where she opened a white laptop and bought a one-way airplane ticket for that night. As she left her room with a silent grace, a gentle breeze floated through the room, knocking the letter off the bed and it slowly fell to the floor reading:

_'My Dearest Serenity - _

_ By the time you get this, I'm afraid I will have already passed on from this world. I will not tell you by whom, for I think we both know well enough who. I'm not going to reprimand you for anything, because I know this will be our last exchange of words. Please promise me you will not seek out my murderer or killer, which ever you prefer to call him or her. _

_ This letter is to bluntly inform you that my funeral procession will be occurring sometime shortly after you receive this letter. That and Fawkes is probably well aware that you are his mistress._

_ Among the things I wish for you to do, I would like you to talk to Mr. Harold James Potter. I'm quite sure you are aware of who he is and I believe that you will be able to help him with his 'quest.' You will understand when you meet him, Bunny. Secondly, I beg of you to never mention your parents to him nor any other soul - unless it is absolutely necessary - because I believe I am still the only other soul to know who they are aside from yourself. Lastly, I have a feeling that your Aunt Minerva - or Minnie as you choose to call her - will want you to pick up the remainder of my possessions at Hogwarts._

_ I hope you can cope with my death, dearest. I know it is painful, but keep in mind that I will be in the best of care. I would also appreciate it if you would sing my favorite song… I believe it was called 'Silence' and please, do not shed tears for me. I -'_

The letter did not end there; however, it was obstructed from anyone's view as the rest was written on the other two sheets of paper underneath the top sheet.

xXx

"_**Jeeze!**_ Do you have to hold that, that… **thing **so dang close to my neck?" came the grumbling voice of the ferryman, Charon.

Her grip tightened on her lavender glaive as she felt her palms start to sweat through her white elbow-length gloves.

Around the bend of the River Styx came Charon's river boat, followed by his long paddle, then his body and a glimmer of silver shining across his neck. Her eyes studied the silver glimmer and determined it was either a dagger or a curved sword - all due to the lighting - or lack thereof.

As soon as she managed to find her voice, she growled loudly, "Charon, who in _**HELL**_ is on that boat with you?"

The white haired man's smart-aleck remark resounded in her ears as she rolled her lavender eyes at the sheer irony of the statement.

"Can't say that, missy, 'cause we _are _in _hell_."

"Yea, yea… whatever. Now who is on that boat with you?" she griped at the usually cheery ferryman.

A laugh resounded as the boat finished rounding the corner and the person, or spirit, whom she wanted to see, was still very skillfully concealed from her view. The river flowed on, moving slower as if it knew she was growing impatient.

As the boat came to a creaky halt in front of her, she let out a dark snarl, "You have guts to travel down here, mortal. Now show yourself before I decide that you are nothing but a worthless twit and spare no mercy in slaying you."

"Now firefly - you wouldn't dare slay me -" came a deep voice.

The person then thrust Charon away from them and was revealed to be one of her 'parents' - more specifically her 'father.' The unmistakable white hair with gold tints and twinkling Prussian blue eyes made it hard to claim that she did not know who this person was - and _**heaven forbid **_anyone forget the devious smirk that played across those lips.

xXx

Shaking her head from the dark thoughts roaming through her mind, Minerva McGonagall placed her thin rectangle glasses back on her nose, concealing her brown eyes. Quickly, she swept up her graying-dark brown hair from its loose confinement and tied it into the bun that she regularly wore. Grabbing a black pointed hat with a floppy rim, she placed it on her head unceremoniously. Moving the leather chair away from the mahogany and oak desk, she swiftly made her way out of her new office and headed towards the Great Hall for another depressing breakfast.

Tugging on her black robes, she realized that she needs a new set of robes, especially after seeing all the patches and hems that decorated this one. As soon as she stepped out of room a gust of wind rushed pass her and directly through her robes.

_'Note to self - place warmth charms on clothing before the temperature drops again.'_

It was fairly odd how she suddenly realized that she would need a new teacher to take over her Transfiguration classes and she would need one of the new teachers she would hire to take over the position of Head of Gryffindor house.

xXx

A rather large fire brightly burned a few feet from her - however she did not heed nor acknowledged how close she sat from the roaring flames.

Her body was rather stiff with the way she sat; a straight back with legs crossed one over the other in a meditative manner.

As an invisible wind swept through the room, her black-violet locks fanned away from her face, perspiration beading down her face, a serene façade taking over her appearance with her usual violet eyes closed, instead of those violet orbs burning with inner fire.

Moving her hands away from their upright position from her thighs, she moved them a few inches away and made motions, symbolizing different meanings that only she understood. After repeating her actions twice, she softly chanted, "Watashi wa honoo. Honoo wa mimasu." _"I am flame. Flame is sight."_

She brought her hands towards her knees - as to pause - causing the white sleeves to fall to her fingers. Raising her arms again, she began another set of motions. Once again murmuring, but this time the words were different.

"Watashi wa mimasu. Mimasu wa chikara." _"I am sight. Sight is power."_

After another brief pause, she brought the entire chant together. In the middle of the proceedings something occurred during her chant, images flooded her mind as she tried to make sense of it all. What did people waving thin pieces of wood and speaking in a foreign tongue have anything to do with them? Snapping her violet eyes open, she shivered.

"Akai no me… akai no me…" _"Red eyes… red eyes…"_ was the only audible chant she said.

xXx

As relief flooded back into her body, she let her grip ease on her glaive before she rushed towards the figure, happily crying, **"Ruka-papa!"**

Ruka-papa only smiled before hugging the violet haired guardian of the River Styx.

A deep sigh of relief left her body before the petite guardian curiously asked aloud, "Why did you come all the way down here, Ruka-papa? You could have just paged me; it would have been easier for the both of us and saved you a trip to the underworld."

A deep throated chuckled was her only response before she felt her hair being patted down by a hand, earning a squeak of protest at the display of affection.

"I was sent to gather you, firefly. Now tell the ferryman your goodbyes - you won't be back for quite a while."

Firefly nodded, quickly hugged her only human companion while guarding the River Styx and waved goodbye as a purple portal appeared several feet away before vanishing with the companion whom had held ferryman 'captive'. Charon released a soft chuckle before making his way to the entrance of the River Styx once again.

"Good luck Saturn - I have a feeling you will need all that you can get… and I hope that I shall never have to see you down here as a spirit."


	3. The Meeting

Chapter 3: _The Meeting_

After approximately three hours of shopping, Usagi had finally found the right cage size for Fawkes; each time denying to the owner that he was a phoenix, but only a rare species. Fawkes, now inside the cage, was rather unhappy about being stuck inside the gleaming silver bars.

She had quickly walked home - mentally going through all the things that needed to be done before the final senshi meeting and before her "parents" and "brother" arrived home. As soon as she set foot in the house, she kicked off her shoes and called her most protective senshi - Sailor Uranus.

"Moshi, moshi?" _"Hello?"_ came the tranquil voice on the other end. [1]

Smiling to herself, she happily chirped, "Konnichi wa Michiru-san! It's Usagi… I was wondering if Haruka-san is around."_ "Good afternoon, Miss Michiru! …"_

A short while later, she placed the white telephone back in its cradle before bounding up the stairs - taking two at a time, while carrying the wine colored phoenix upstairs. Flinging the door open to her room, she scanned it before shuddering at the thought of how organized it was. She automatically made her way to the closet and rummaged around for a comfortable traveling outfit and something appropriate to wear for a funeral. When she was done dressing, she stared at herself in the full-length oval shaped mirror from across the white desk. Her eyes examining herself, from the top of her head - an over-sized gray and black train cap placed sideways - to her toes, wearing a pair of checkered all-star converse tennis shoes in black and white.

Usagi tugged on the left sleeve of her off-the shoulder soft v-neck in a silver-blue shirt, that covered about three inches of her dark blue baggy jeans, before casting another glance at herself in the mirror. Looking at her jeans, a small smile passed through her lips, these jeans weren't hers until recently when Shingo finally hit his growth spurt. Her little brother was not so little anymore since he began high school last month, Shingo now towered over her and was barely a few inches from Tsukino Kenji's six foot frame.

Her face turned to the remaining pictures on the bare desk and felt tears welling up in her eyes - this would be her last goodbye. She slipped on a gray piece of material; it appeared to be a corset, except it was much looser and came right underneath her bosom, she immediately tied the black thin ribbon in the front tightly and made a small bow at the top.

Her eyes fell on three blue envelopes covered with white bunnies. She moved over and picked them up. Written in her loose cursive handwriting was:

_Shingo._

_Ikuko._

_Kenji._

She walked down the hallway to her adoptive parents' bedroom and left the letter for Ikuko, simply because she knew Mrs. Tsukino would come home first and change. She then left the letter for Shingo in his bedroom - more specifically on the television connected to his video game system. Oh, how she would miss battling with him on that piece of junk.

Walking downstairs, she placed the last letter - Kenji's - on his favorite chair in the living room. It was dark green with yesterday's newspaper on top of the chair. She smiled.

Her attention turned away from her inner musings when a loud, sharp noise sounded. It disturbed the entire neighborhood with a single blast. She took a quick peek outside of a window and her whole face lit up.

xXx

Clutching several large books to her chest, she pushed her way through the wind and made her way up a hundred or so stairs to a popular Shinto shrine - the Hikawa Shrine - which sat at the top of a low rising hill, unaffected by the weather. [2]

The now bare Sakura trees that lined the front of the Shrine shook violently.

After being welcomed by her friend's grandfather, she bowed, slid her feet out of her shoes and slowly released her vice-like grip on the books she was carrying. She immediately made her way to the back room of the temple and was greeted by an enthusiastic blond haired girl and the raven haired miko _(priestess)_ of the shrine.

"Do either of you know why this abrupt meeting was called?" she asked while tucking a loose strand of her blue hair behind her ear.

Both occupants of the room shook their heads, increasing her curiosity as to why the meeting was suddenly called and why she was required to attend it on such short notice. Rubbing her chin, she also took note that the usually energetic blond was rather solemn; that particular personality did not suit their dear friend at all. Why would she be this way? Was she hiding something or did she have something to do with this particular meeting?

As the next occupant, a tall brunette with piercing emeralds for eyes entered, Ami shook her most recent train of thought from her mind.

Makoto, the brunette, gave a soft smile to her companions as she sat down on a free mat in front of a square table, taking notice of the table full of cookies and drinks. They did not talk about anything of significance until their other companions arrived and a rather unusual meeting began, but still did not answer many questions that somehow remained unasked and thus, unanswered.

xXx

After she had cleared her throat, twenty-one pairs of eyes turned to her, giving her their full attention. It unnerved her to be the center of attention, but she opened her mouth, and surprisingly enough her voice was quiet and calm.

"I suppose you would all like to know why this meeting was called, especially since it was quite unexpected."

She looked up and studied each person all of whom were looking at her, receiving a nod each time she briefly looked at them, their nod spurred her on with her speech. Closing her eyes, she cupped her hands in front of her chest and a rather large crystal slowly pulled its way out of her body. She raised it above her head and murmured, "Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, Genkaku wo kyomerimasu tame ni himitsu wo akashimasu…" _"Silver Imperium Crystal, purge the illusion in order for the secret to reveal."_

The Maboroshi no Ginzuishou covered her naked form in a pool of light and ribbons. When it died down, her hair had become a soft white color; signifying she had no pigmentation in her hair. While where her eyes had once been blue, they now matched the night sky - a liquid black that almost appeared to bear no pupils. She smiled at all of them before she touched the silver eight-pointed star on her forehead, causing all eighteen of them to disappear, leaving only a shimmering stardust in their wake.

xXx

Her knee-high boots clacked against the moon's surface as she paced in front of her seven senshi, plus two others. The bodies of the later two senshi were softly shimmering their planetary aura's color, signaling that they were incapable of leaving their present location.

It had been only a little under an hour and she was already nervous about her sister's senshi's reaction to her. To relieve some tension, she untied her hair from its multiple small loops above her neck; letting her long locks to fall in its natural loose waves that dropped to her ankles, revealing her hair to be two-toned, gold at the crown, then crimson from the shoulder down.

Her seven senshi were just attempting to relax from their usual constant vigilant stances. The two purple haired senshi were wrapped up in the others' happy embrace. The only black haired senshi was taking a nap while her counterpart was gleefully watching a violet haired senshi create butterflies out of fire. The last two were partners; however stubborn, they were presently engaged in a sparring match. The shimmering senshi were having a light conversation on the most recent activity in their area.

All activity from the ten women ceased when a growing light began to appear, heading from earth to their current location.

xXx

A regal looking woman, no more than five inches tall with flowing white hair tied into two round buns on either side of her head, sat on a white marble and crystalline throne, her hands wringing themselves together from obvious anxiety as she attempted to calm down.

All the while another woman, a fairy queen with soft blue hair styled in a bun with a protruding ponytail, poked the nervous woman playfully as she watched her jump a foot into the air, emitting a high-pitched squeak.

"You need to relax, Leni-chan," she chimed happily, a giggle erupting from her throat while the white-haired Lunarian fairy, apparently called Leni-chan, glared at her, "they're going to be just fine. Secrets will be revealed, but not all of them."

Leni-chan sighed loudly before nodding, "I suppose so."

Just then, a blue skinned white haired messenger fairy with winged sandals appeared before the two fairy queens, after bowing to the two the messenger proudly announced, "The planetary senshi have arrived safely with Endymion-ouji-sama and Serenity-hime-sama; Selenity-jouou-sama, Keimyou-jouou-sama!" [3]

"You see," the blue haired fairly boasted, "I told you that they would be just fine, Leni-chan, but you worried anyways!"

The white haired fairy giggled at the blue haired fairy's childishness, "Alright, you win, Kei-chan, happy now?"

The two fairy friends flew to greet their relatives from Earth.

xXx

Fifteen women landed on the forgotten ruins of the once-legendary White Moon Kingdom with four men and three cats, all of whom were holding hands in a circular shape with one person in the center. From their visitors, the third shortest woman's eyes widened as she let out a happy squeal and she ran towards the golden clad senshi, who stood with an unbelievable look upon her face. As she felt two arms wrap around her neck, her face relaxed before settling on a smile as she leaned down to embrace the other woman.

A soft chime-like whisper sounded in her ear, "Now we can tell them, right, Kari-chan?" [4]

Kari-chan nodded as they extricated themselves from their previous embrace as the seven senshi, including the two shimmering senshi, came forward and organized themselves. She cleared her throat behind her hand, quickly gaining everyone's attention and gave the visitors a warm welcome.

"Hello, Planetary Senshi of Serenity-hime-sama, Endymion-ouji-sama of Earth, Luna-san, Artemis-san and Diana-chan of Mau, Serenity-hime-chan of Earth, Asteroid Senshi of Serenity-hime-chan, Kakyuu-hime-sama and Starlight Senshi of Kakyuu-hime-sama." [5]

The woman who had just hugged her moments ago, pouted as she poked the armor clad senshi on her tan arm while using her formal senshi name in place of her birth giving name: "What? No 'hi' for me, Galaxia?"

The woman, now identified as Galaxia, let out a soft chuckle, surprising their visitors, before responding, "What? The hug wasn't enough for you, Cosmos-chan?"

Murmurs spread through the Planetary Senshi, Asteroid Senshi and Starlight Senshi as well as their princess, the Earth Prince and the future daughter of the prince; all of whom were curious about the golden senshi.

xXx

A pair of translucent white butterfly wings flapped swiftly, carrying the petite Lunarian Queen, in her fairy form, to the chosen meeting spot - Mare Serenitatis or the Sea of Serenity - a crater to the humans living on the Earth below them. Following her were eight other fairy queens, one from each of the planets of the solar system. As they sped towards their destination, each of them came to an abrupt halt as they laid eyes on the group.

After a brief moment or two, all of them began whispering, finally deciding that they would have to appear to the group in their visible forms. They would appear to like the shimmering senshi from the golden clad senshi's group. Their temporary bodies surrounded by a column of light and when they appeared, they took on the size of regular humans but with a sparkling effect; summarily put, they appeared similar to the shimmering women. [6] Each fairy queen called forth their own planetary power and slowly took on her own shimmering body as they made their way towards their group of visitors.

xXx

Simultaneously turning, thirty-two heads looked at the nine shimmering women approaching, now standing a few feet away. Before any of them had time to react, the white haired Queen of the Moon stepped forward, sweeping the armor clad warrior and white haired female standing beside her into one gigantic hug. Taking a step back, her face lit up at the sight of the two of them and whispered for their ears only, "Musume-tachi, look how you have grown!" [7]

Both girls embraced their mother at the same, grinning like hyenas, before crying out in unison, "Konnichi wa okaa-san!" _"Good afternoon, mother."_

The regal Queen turned her attention to the other females and males present, all of whom were standing only a few meters away, after a few seconds of observation she asked, "Well, are you going to just stand there or introduce yourselves?"

The first shimmering lady stepped forward; she had light blue hair that reached her knees with vivid blue eyes that matched well with her hair. Half of her hair was wrapped around her head, creating a style that resembled a ponytail. She patted a dark blue haired girl and then another with the same hair color, except it cascaded in waves to mid-calf length. Smiling at the rest of the group, the woman announced, "Konnichi wa minna-san. I am the former Queen of Mercury, Keimyou Suisei. I was the mother of Cosmos's Suisei no Senshi, Mizuno Ami, and I was also the aunt of Galaxia's Arumi Keisei no Senshi, Reiko Aya." [8]

The two senshi - Ami and Aya - were smiling at the other as they gave the other a small hug as a greeting.

The second lady who came forward had soft blonde curls that gently reached her shoulder blades. It was held back by a pearl clasp. Her eyes were a soft brown that twinkled as she spoke, "Konnichi wa minna-san! I am the former Queen of Venus, Renai Kinsei, and cousin to Selenity-jouou-sama of the Moon. I was the mother of the leader of the Cosmos's Senshi, Kinsei no Senshi, Aino Minako, and the guardian to Galaxia's Chi no Senshi, Ikari Doki, and Phi no Senshi, Kokutan Yabi." [9]

The blond haired Kinsei no Senshi's face was completely blank as she studied Doki and Yabi; the two blond haired senshi from the Star Cauldron. Without a warning, a smile broke out on her face as she threw an arm around each of them in a hug.

Flicking a strand of crimson hair away from her face, the next Queen stepped forward. Her violet eyes were narrowed in concentration at the group of visitors. After clearing her throat loudly, she spoke, "Konnichi wa minna-san. I am the former Queen of Mars, Vesta Kasei. I am the half sister to Chishiki Meiousei-jouou-sama of Pluto. You know my daughter, Hino Rei, as Cosmos's Kasei no Senshi and I am the step sister to Galaxia's Atsushi Bottai Kinzoku Chouko no Senshi, Chouko Kimei." [10]

Both fire senshis shook hands, giving a short nod of the head to signal their greeting.

A green and brown haired lady came forward, her hair spun into multiple twirled strands that were situated into a bun held by a section of vines intertwined with green roses that budded on the right side. Her eyes were a shade darker than the eyes of the Queen of Venus. The woman stepped closer to the brown haired senshi that stood on her left and gave her a kiss at her temple before introducing herself, "I am Arashi Mokusei - the former Queen of Jupiter. I am the mother of Cosmos's Mokusei no Senshi, Kino Makoto, and the second cousin of Galaxia's Rido Sen Karasu no Senshi, Karasuma Akane." [11]

Makoto, Mokusei no Senshi, bowed her head slightly to her distant family member, Akane, Rido Sen Karasu no Senshi.

"Konnichi wa," a soft voice uttered, coming from a lavender haired woman that wore her hair loosely by a single, thin black ribbon. As she stepped forward, her violet eyes silently studied each person who were present before landing on the second shortest member - a woman with straight violet hair that was cropped around her ears, "I am the former Queen of Saturn, Shinigami Dosei. I am the mother of Cosmos's Dosei no Senshi, Tomoe Hotaru, and the godmother to Galaxia's Tin Nyanko no Senshi, Nyanko Suzu." [12]

The next woman to step in front of the group was somebody that none of them would have pin-pointed to be a certain fairly-masculine senshi's mother. The way to tell they were related was through their remarkably identical Prussian blue eyes; however, that was where all similarities ended.

She was the second shortest of the shimmering Queens - barely taller than the Queen Shinigami of Saturn. Her soft brown hair was highlighted in dark browns, held up in a high ponytail but with tiny strands wrapped around the hair that was pulled up, creating the illusion of a spider's web. In fact, her hair was not in a ponytail at all, but merely tied in a half-pulled-through ponytail with the last five inches of curly hair gently covering her neck and shoulders.

"Konnichi wa minna-san." Her voice was sharp with an air of confidence, "I am Tsuyosa Tenousei, the former Queen of Uranus. The mother of Cosmos's Tenousei no Senshi, Ten'ou Haruka, and a distant relative of Galaxia's Lethe no Senshi, Kurohyou Shishou." [13]

Immediately following Queen Tsuyosa was a woman with a huge smile on her face. Her soft green bangs brushed her shoulders while being pinned on the right side of her head by a bobby-pin; the rest of her hair was tied in a loose bun at the nape of her neck. Her blue eyes shimmered with specks of green. Introducing herself, she hugged the aquamarine haired girl on her left, "Konnichi wa minna-san! I am Yuuga Kaiousei, the former Queen of Neptune. You know my beloved daughter as Cosmos's Kaiousei no Senshi, Kai'ou Michiru and my niece Galaxia's Mnemosyne no Senshi, Kitsune Kioku." [14]

The last Queen to step forward was wearing a shimmering dress in black and red, her murky gray eyes dancing with an inner power and wisdom. Crimson locks swept back and forth under her knees; however part of her hair was wrapped around her head, two inches away from her bangs. She was the third tallest of the group - only slightly shorter than the Queen of Jupiter, the tallest followed by the white haired Lunarian Queen.

"I am Chishiki Meiousei, the former Queen of Pluto. My daughter stands among Cosmos's senshi - Meiousei no Senshi or Mei'ou Setsuna. My great niece is the Kinmoku ho hime, Kakyuu Kinmoku." [15]

The white haired Lunarian queen smiled brightly at all of the teens and adults present; however her lavender eyes betrayed her cheerful demeanor. They were haunted by an inner turmoil that appeared to have lasted for too many centuries.

She seemed rather childish as she twirled the loose curly strand of white hair in front of her ear. Clearing her throat as quietly as possible, she announced, "Konnichi wa minna-san. You all know me, for I am the former Queen of the Moon, Selenity Tsuki." [16]

Moving towards the white haired Tsuki no Senshi, all of her jovial qualities escaped her face as she once again hugged the petite female; who was the renown Uchuu no Senshi. The white haired Uchuu no Senshi was gently turned around by the loving hands of her mother, as she was reintroduced by the regal queen.

"This is my youngest daughter, Himitsu Serenity Kinkou no hime." [17]

Murmurs passed swiftly through the group of teens and adults; all of them were curious as to whom the moon queen's other children were and why they weren't present. Queen Selenity Tsuki flashed them a bitter smile as she gestured towards the shimmering castle of the once White Moon Kingdom and icon of the Silver Alliance.

Everyone made their way to castle, mouths in awe at the splendor and power of a simple, yet elegant, white marble castle. Once they were all situated in the dining room of the extravagant palace, the lavender-eyed queen bit back tears as she received all the attention from their visitors. Staring at each of the people, she convinced herself this was for the best.

"What I am about to tell you, will not only shock you, it will not only change everything you were ever taught about the Silver Alliance and Silver Millennium, but your present lives as well."

* * *

1 ~ _Moshi, moshi. _

Japanese greeting on the telephone.

2 ~ _Hikawa Shrine. _

Rei's Shinto Shrine from Sailor Moon.

3 ~ _Planetary senshi, Endymion-ouji-sama, Serenity-hime-sama, Selenity-jouou-sama, Keimyou-jouou-sama_

Japanese. Meaning (in order): Planetary Sailor Scouts/Warriors, Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity, Queen Selenity and Queen Keimyou.

4 ~ _Kari-chan_

'Kari' is short for her name.

5 ~ _Planetary Senshi of Serenity-hime-sama, Endymion-ouji-sama of Earth, Luna-san, Artemis-san and Diana-chan of Mau, Serenity-hime-chan of Earth, Asteroid Senshi of Serenity-hime-chan, Kakyuu-hime-sama and Starlight Senshi of Kakyuu-hime-sama._

Mostly Japanese and references - Planetary Senshi are protectors of Princess Serenity; Prince Endymion of Earth; Luna, Artemis and Diana are from Mau, Princess Serenity of Earth and Asteroid Senshi that protect her; Princess Kakyuu and her Starlight Senshi.

6 ~ _The shimmering forms of the fairy queens_

This is pretty much my understanding of how Queen Serenity appears in whatever episode it is. They are able to touch other people.

7 ~ _Musume-tachi._

Japanese: musume is daughter; attaching tachi makes it plural for some words.

**NAMES OF QUEENS AND A FEW OF THE ANIMATE SENSHI ARE MINE.**

8 ~ _Keimyou Suisei; Mizuno Ami; Suisei no Senshi; Reiko Aya; __Arumi Keisei __no Senshi._

Keimyou - Japanese: clever. Suisei - Japanese: Mercury.  
Mizuno Ami - Japanese: Asian Beauty of Water.  
Suisei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Mercury.  
Reiko Aya - in English: Aya Reiko.  
Arumi Keisei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Aluminum Siren.

9 ~ _Renai Kinsei; Aino Minako; Kinsei no Senshi; Ikari Doki; Kokutan Yabi; Chi no Senshi; Phi no Senshi._

Renai - Japanese: romance. Kinsei - Japanese: Venus.  
Aino Minako - Japanese: Beautiful Child of Love.  
Kinsei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Venus.  
Ikari Doki - Japanese: Fury Fighter; in English: Doki Ikari.  
Kokutan Yabi - Japanese: Ebony's Night Beauty; in English: Yabi Kokutan.  
Chi no Senshi/Phi no Senshi- Japanese: Sailor Chi/Sailor Phi.

[Doki Ikari was chosen because Chi gets revenge on Kakyuu for killing Phi. Yabi Kokutan is her name because she is dressed in black.]

10 ~ _Vesta Kasei; Hino Rei; Kasei no Senshi; __Atsushi Bottai Kinzoku __Chouko no Senshi; Chouko Kimei._

Vesta - Roman Goddess of the Hearth. Kasei - Japanese: Mars.  
Hino Rei - Japanese: Spirit of Fire.  
Kasei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Mars.  
Atsushi Bottai Kinzoku Chouko no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Heavy Metal Papillion ('Papillion' is fench for 'Butterfly', so I translated 'Butterfly' to Japanese).  
Chouko Kimei - Japanese: Butterfly of the Bright Flame; in English: Kimei Chouko.

[Kimsei Chouko was chosen because she has butterfly wings on her back and creatures butterflies made of fire.]

11 ~ _Arashi Mokusei; Mokusei no Senshi, Kino Makoto; __Rido Sen Karasu__ no Senshi; Karasuma Akane_

Arashi - Japanese; storm. Mokusei - Japanese: Jupiter.  
Mokusei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Jupiter.  
Kino Makoto - Japanese: Wisdom of Trees.  
Rido Sen Karasu no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Lead Crow.  
Karasuma Akane - in English: Akane Karasuma.

12 ~ _Shinigami Dosei; Dosei no Senshi, Tomoe Hotaru; Tin Nyanko no Senshi; Nyanko Suzu_

Shinigami - Japanese: grim reaper. Dosei - Japanese: Saturn.  
Dosei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Saturn.  
Tomoe Hotaru - Japanese: Sprouting Soil Firefly.  
Tin Nyanko no Senshi - Japanese with English: Sailor Tin Nyanko  
Nyanko Suzu - in English: Suzu Nyanko.

13 ~ _Tsuyosa Tenousei; Tenousei no Senshi; Ten'ou Haruka; Lethe no Senshi; Kurohyou Shishou_

Tsuyosa -Japanese: strength. Tenousei - Japanese: Uranus.  
Tenousei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Uranus.  
Ten'ou Haruka - Japanese: Distant Heaven King.  
Lethe no Senshi - Japanese with English: Sailor Lethe  
Kurohyou Shishou - Japanese: Black Panther of Thought; in English: Shishou Kurohyou.

[Shishou meaning 'thought' because she is the guardian of the river of forgetfulness; irony or satire.]

14 ~ _Yuuga Kaiousei; Kaiousei no Senshi; Kai'ou Michiru; Mnemosyne no Senshi; Kitsune Kioku_

Yuuga - Japanese: gorgeous. Kaiousei - Japanese: Neptune.  
Kaiousei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Neptune.  
Kai'ou Michiru - Japanese: Maturing Sea King.  
Mnemosyne no Senshi - Japanese with English: Sailor Mnemosyne  
Kitsune Kioku - Japanese: Fox of Memory; in English: Kioku Kitsune.

[Kioku meaning 'memory' because she is the guardian of the river of memory.]

15 ~ _Chishiki Meiousei; Meiousei no Senshi; Mei'ou Setsuna; Kinmoku ho hime; Kakyuu Kinmoku._

Chishiki - Japanese: knowledge. Meiousei - Japanese: Pluto.  
Meiousei no Senshi - Japanese: Sailor Pluto.  
Mei'ou Setsuna - Japanese: Momentary Dark King.  
Kinmoku ho hime - Japanese: Princess of Kinmoku.

16 ~ _Selenity Tsuki_

Selenity derives from Selene, Greek Goddess of the Moon.  
Tsuki - Japanese: Moon. Also known as Queen Serenity in the dubbed anime.

17 ~ _Himitsu Serenity Kinkou_

Himitsu - Japanese: secret.  
Serenity means peaceful, tranquil.  
Kinoku - Japanese: balance.

* * *

**Explanation of the names:**

if you have ever seen the anime of Saior Moon; Aya Reiko, Akane Karasuma, Suzu Nyanko and Nexu Chuuko are the actual names of characters. Kimsei Chouko, Kioku Kitsune, Shishou Kurohyou, Doki Ikari and Yabi Kokutan are names for the other senshi from the manga because they never received names in the Stars Season because they were cut out in the anime.

I chose the names on a whim: Kimsei Chouko is Japanese meaning 'Butterfly of the Bright Flame.' This should be easy enough to understand because she has butterfly wings on her back and creates butterflies made of fire. Shishou Kurohyou means 'Black Panther of Thought,' Shishou meaning 'thought' because she is the guardian of the river of forgetfulness. Kioku Kitsune means 'Fox of Memory,' Kioku meaning 'memory' because she is the guardian of the river of memory. Shishou and Kioku were given animals because they are not animal senshi the way the other Animates were; thus Shishou is a black panther because she defends Kioku and Kioku is the fox. Doki Ikari means 'Fury Fighter,' simply because she gets revenge on Kakyuu for killing Phi. Yabi Kokutan means 'Ebony's Night Beauty' because she is dressed in black.


	4. In This Silence

Chapter 4: _In This Silence_

Clearing her throat at from the head table, hundreds of pairs of eyes gazes turned towards the new Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, all waiting for her dreaded announcement. She attempted to smile at the students whose eyes were rimmed with red, they looked ashen from the shock of the Headmaster's death, then bluntly stated, "Professor Albus Dumbledore's funeral…"

Her voice choked as she heard another round of sobbing ensue from most of the female population. It then hit her with the force of ton of bricks. Her former friend and companion was no longer present - she was seated in _his_ seat. She looked down at the plate and managed to keep enough self-control on her emotions to finish her announcement.

"His … funeral… will be held tomorrow at noon, outside of the school directly in front of the Forbidden Forest. Those of you choosing to attend should wear appropriate, but comfortable, clothing underneath your school robes because you will be taking the Hogwarts Express home shortly after. Those of you not attending _**will respect**_ those of us who will be attending and there will be no crude comments - I will not tolerate it. All classes are postponed and marks will be sent home as soon as everything has been graded and finalized. Good day."

Not bothering to finish her breakfast, she fled the stoic, numb, and sobbing students. The new Headmistress left for her new chambers, still shaken up from her announcement and was unable to contain her sadness any more.

xXx

"Not every generation of Lunarian queens give birth to the three… forces, I suppose you could call them. I was one of the few who managed to do so," stated the rather emotionally detached Queen of the Moon to the group of visitors. "I gave birth to three daughters - Hikari Ginga Yang, Yami Mokushi Yin and Himitsu Serenity Kinkou, the latter two being twins. Hikari was eldest and the child of light. Yami was the elder of the twins and the child of the dark while her sister, Himitsu, was the baby of our family - the child of balance…"

Another rush of murmurs spread through the teens and adults, aside from the queens who already knew of the situation. The Lunarian queen paused as the former Queen of Saturn stood up, drawing everyone's attention to herself.

The former Queen of Saturn cast a cautious look to the violet haired Dosei no Senshi and cleared her throat before beginning, "When I told you, minna-san, that the Dosei no Senshi, Tomoe Hotaru, was my daughter; I did not mention to you that she is my daughter of this present time."

Raising her pallid hands, all comments ceased to spew from their mouths.

"In order to protect the balance of the cosmos during the Silver Millennium, I raised her as my own."

The Dosei no Senshi's violet eyes widened, before she was able to utter a single word, Queen Shinigami Dosei finished what she was saying, "Hotaru was raised under a false name so she may strengthen her powers over her dark side as well as the Sovereign and Messiah of Silence. She is actually Yami Mokushi Yin - the middle child of Selenity-jouou-sama."

Her violet orbs saddened as she turned to face Hotaru, "Please forgive me Hotaru-chan for not telling you sooner."

The violet haired teen then quietly asked, "You are my mother of this time?"

The lavender haired queen nodded, "Yes Hotaru-chan, I am. However you will not be able to see me for reasons I choose not to disclose. You shall later learn as to why."

Silence swept through the room, an eerie stillness settling over everyone that caused the hairs on the backs of their necks to rise.

Queen Selenity swept forward in her white gown, hugging the poor violet haired senshi. After Hotaru was released, a smile graced her usually impassive face as she turned towards the lavender haired Queen of Saturn. She inched forward, surprising the queen with a hug. The Queen of Saturn broke down crying as she hugged the petite teen back.

"Thank you for telling me this new information, but I still have one question: if I was sent away to live on Saturn, why wasn't Hikari sent away?"

The Queen of the Moon chuckled, watching as the two broke away from their hug to answer the Dosei no Senshi's question.

"Ah, but Hikari-chan was sent away. She lived as the daughter of the King and Queen of the Sun, who belonged to the Golden Alliance. They chose not to intermingle with the Silver Alliance because they deemed it safer to stay out of our affairs. As to why you were sent to live with other families, it was because Himitsu, your younger twin, was a child of balance. If she was around either side - dark or light - for a long period of time, the balance would have been thrown off and ultimately would have been the Alliance's downfall. Hikari and you were raised knowing that she was your sister. I never told Himitsu that she had sisters, seeing as I raised her under the name of Princess Serenity II. No one wanted to risk destroying the fragile peace… thus you were torn away from me."

Her lavender eyes turned to all of her daughters along with several other people in the room.

"I believe that some of you want to explain other things that will change your lives or those things that generally need to be discussed, ne?"

xXx

Sitting in the front row of the funeral service for Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall was nothing short of a wreck. Tears poured down her face, as they had been all night long, like so many other people in the crowd. Her hands were clasped in her lap and she did not dare budge from her position. Her eyes did not dare to turn her gaze upon the encased body of the deceased great Headmaster of Hogwarts.

There was a bald man speaking in front, droning on about all of Albus Dumbledore's accomplishments - nothing about who Albus was, what he stood for, what he helped with at Hogwarts, what he believed or what he thought of all of his students. She sadly thought, _'This does not do you any justice, Albus.'_

Once the deceased body was securely placed in the white tomb, a petite blond haired lady swept down the red carpet and stood at the front of the crowd. Everyone gapped. She was dressed in a white spaghetti strap dress with a sheer silver layer on top of the outfit and a light blue shawl draped around her elbows. Minerva narrowed her brown eyes - how dare she attend Albus Dumbledore's funeral dressed in white?

The petite young woman's violet eyes quickly studied the people who had come to attend the funeral; they held a deep sadness that most could relate to that scared the people in the crowd. She softly cleared her throat behind her hand before she began to speak.

"All of you are probably thinking how odd it is for someone to wear white to funeral. It's just like the bride wearing black to her wedding, isn't it?" she paused; her voice was clearly shaken and distressed as she wrung her hands. "The one thing that Albus Dumbledore did not believe in is that death was the end of life. I agree with the late Headmaster because the afterlife is merely the beginning."

Accepting another speech from the new lady, the crowd quieted down. A soft melody came from several instruments - acoustic guitar, flute, and piano - the woman had enchantment them to play. Before she began to sing, she looked to the ground, then quietly stated as she looked back up, "This is for Albus Dumbledore because he loved this song."

_"Give me release… witness me… I am outside… give me peace… Heaven holds a sense of wonder… and I wanted to believe… that I'd get caught up… when the rage in me subsides…"_

xXx

His eyes fixed on the singer - how could she be _singing_ at the late Headmaster's funeral? And what kind of song was this? It was too much. He let out a grumbled sigh, before turning his attention to a red-haired sixth-year next to him. Her blue eyes met his emerald orbs dead on - and somehow, she knew what he was thinking, because she nodded through her tears before turning her face away in a dejected manner.

_"Passion chokes the flower… 'til she cries no more… possessing all the beauty… hungry still for more… Heaven holds a sense of wonder… and I wanted to believe… that I'd get caught up… when the rage in me subsides… I can't help this longing… comfort me… I can't hold it all in… if you won't let me…"_

He looked back up, realizing how much the second verse reflected the estranged relationship between him and his best mate's sister; the young teen that was sitting beside him.

xXx

'_Interesting choice for a song…' _Minerva's mind trailed off and she immediately knew why she recognized the song as the next verse was melodically and enchantingly sung.

_"Heaven holds a sense of wonder… and I wanted to believe… that I'd get caught up… when the rage in me subsides… In this white wave… I am sinking… in this silence… in this white wave… in this silence… I believe… In this white wave… I am sinking… in this silence… in this white wave… in this silence… I believe… I have seen you… in this white wave… you are silent… you are breathing… in this white wave… I am free…"_ [1]

Her brown eyes widened as she thought; _'Only Serenity sang this song, but she is not Serenity… is she?'_

xXx

Her dark violet eyes locked with those belonging to the brown haired Transfiguration teacher, now current Headmistress of Hogwarts. Tears pricked her eyes as she sang the last verse and gave the woman a slight nod of her head. Pushing back a loose strand of her loose blonde hair, she looked towards the floor and let the funeral continue as she walked barefoot on the red carpet.

She mentally griped about being under a disguise just to attend the funeral of her grandfather._ 'I'm no longer Tsukino Usagi. I stand as Serenity Dumbledore… as well as Artemis Megami… until I can reveal who I am… oh, grandpa.' _

Her feet automatically ground themselves to where she was standing and her heart tugged at her as tears pricked her eyes. _'Goodbye Grandpa… I love you and will do everything in my power to help him… but first, I need to visit several places and get some information… I will see you again…won't I, Grandpa?'_

Turning her back towards the crowd of people at the funeral, her eyes were unsuccessful in holding back her onslaught of tears. She looked one last time at the white casket holding Albus Dumbledore's body as she whispered, "I loved you Grandpa… no matter what they say… forgive me for not staying any longer…"

Turning away again, she picked up the edges of her long white dress and ran away from the stone walled school - tears flying from her eyes, scattering into the wind as her legs carried her away.

'_No one will die for me again. No one will protect me anymore. I stand alone. Grandpa is gone… so is mother… and father - he never cared. I will bring about the end no matter how much it hurts everyone else - because it will not be in vain. It will be done for you Grandpa.'_

xXx

She sighed loudly while twirling a strand of her now lavender hair. Why she had agreed to become a singer and bassist - she didn't know and frankly, she wanted out.

The girl sitting next to her was reading a huge book and the only part of the title visible to her eyes was '-warts. -tory.' The history of something as far as she was concerned, but the navy haired keyboardist seemed to indulge herself into the book. If only she could be like her companion and just wish her nervousness away.

Her other companion was slouched in a dark green bean bag chair, two hands behind her head, intertwined with her short black locks. She had her eyes closed and was listening to music, her ears covered by a set of headphones.

It was odd how the whole thing has been planned out - then, overnight, she had found herself in a recently famous band called 'Moonlight.' Their leader singer and guitarist had suddenly changed her hair, eyes, height, weight and body without the use of her disguise pen. Usagi; or rather Artemis, had later explained that it was 'a gift' she was born with; in other words, 'a power' called Metamorphosing. [2] It only worked when she 'summoned' enough of her energy and power to change what she wanted. Surprisingly enough, it stayed for as long as she willed it.

Usagi's - no - Artemis's hair had become a darker shade of blond with lighter highlights and frosted black. Her hair was now waist length, permanently crimped with scattered braids. Blue eyes became a dark violet that reminded her of her own, only now they were a deep black, making it look like there was no difference between her eye and her pupils.

All of this led her to question as to why her appearance was so different. She didn't actually have lavender hair or black eyes. In fact, she had found out recently that she wasn't actually Hotaru Tomoe, but Hotaru Rowena Black. Her hair was naturally violet and her eyes were actually a dark blue with flickers of violet. Hotaru Tomoe had simply been a disguise so no one would know who she actually was - someone she didn't even know because she had been living as someone else. Now she would be true to herself and she would not become some scared child that she had pretended to be.

With her new found determination, Hotaru pulled out her black bass from underneath the hotel's bed. She smiled at it - it was covered with stickers that she had collected during their short time being famous. Her favorite so far was, 'I didn't do it. You can't prove it. The sheep are lying.' She then leaned over to her night stand and yanked the drawer open, pulling out a black pick with 'SB' engraved on it in violet and on the other side, 'RT.' Smiling, she thought, _'The initials of my father and my mother.' _

She strummed the bass, creating several random chords before humming a melody and subconsciously singing aloud, _"They've clipped my wings again… tore them apart and then left me… No use to fly away to my yesterday of freedom … my eyes died back that day… seeing the hurt I may have done…"_

A set of drums and keyboards had suddenly begun to play along with her and she raised her eyes, before smiling at the other two females in the room.

_"Beat me instead of them; path is my only zen of fun… I'll go where secrets are sold… where roses unfold… I'll sleep as time goes by… so hurting here is where I belong, dreaming as song… blood on my hands to stay strong… the flowers in the graveyard are all gone, … I don't belong…"_ [3]

The song was cut off when the red haired background vocalist for Moonlight came into room, carrying multiple bags followed by three drooling males that were her brothers.

**"DINNER!"**

Smiling, all three got up and sat on the floor, happily chatting about the evening's performance in less than an hour as well as complaining about their cover names and remembering to use them.

Only minutes later did their leader singer - Artemis - enter the apartment drenched and they immediately ran to greet her, but she shrugged off their sympathy and kindness, violet eyes haunted. None of her band mates knew that she had returned from her grandfather's funeral and she did not plan on telling them. Wringing out her blond locks, she left a puddle of water on the beige carpet before numbly entering her bedroom to change.

Artemis trudged towards her closet and unceremoniously pulled out the outfit she planned on performing in while stripping from the soaking dress. The shirt she pulled out was made of black lace that covered the front half of her torso and arms that tied in the back with a crimson ribbon from the base of her shoulder blades. Slipping on a crimson bodice over top the lace shirt, she tightly fastened it with the three pieces of belts in the front. Glaring at her underwear clad bottom-half; she searched for pants and grabbed a pair of soft blue jeans. The sides had been cut out only to be replaced with black ribbons crisscrossing all the way down to her ankles while sections of the front and back of the jeans were spray painted in red with lyrics written on them.

Raising her head, she blankly stared at herself in the full-length mirror before the lavender haired bassist came into her room with a slice of cheese pizza and a root beer float. Artemis managed to give Hades a brief smile that did not erase her look of melancholy.

Hades placed the food on Artemis' dresser before hugging her mother-figure. The blond haired singer looked down at the young teen and wrapped her arms around Hades, pulling her close while closing her eyes in an attempt to block out the tears threatening to spill.

"Arigatou gozaimasu Hades-chan." _"Thank you very much, Hades."_

Hades flashed a huge smile while looking up at Artemis, whose violet eyes expressed her grief without her saying anything. Tilting her head to one side, she asked the older woman, "Usa-mama, saa, Arty-mama are you ready to perform tonight?"

Artemis nodded softly before releasing the teen to eat her pizza. Hades grabbed her hand and dragged the blond singer out of her room and to where the rest of the band were eating, happily chatting away about the concert. Both girls quickly sat down, but only Hades joined the conversation while Artemis leaned back and listened on.

* * *

1 ~ _Silence_

Sung by Sarah McLachlan and performed with Delerium.

2 ~ _Metamorphosing_

Created by JK Rowling from the Harry Potter series. The term is similar to the term of being a Metamorphagi, just remember Nymphadora Tonks and that's about it.

3 ~ _Lemon_

Written and sung by Katy Rose.


	5. Almost Sorry

Chapter 5: _Almost Feeling Sorry_

He found himself on the Hogwarts Express from the sixth year in a row - heading back to the Dursley's.

His eyes were completely blank and void of all emotion. Nothing could be read from them and they appeared to be lifeless behind his round glasses. Nothing was able to disturb him from his reverie until they reached platform nine and three quarters. Getting off, he waved his goodbyes to his red haired mate and his mate's sister along with his book-smart brown haired female friend. Immediately spotting his purple-faced uncle, glaring aunt, and his cousin who was currently eating an ice cream cone, he slowly made his way over to them.

Suddenly his best mate ran over, clamping his hand on Harry's shoulder and clearly announced for his Harry's uncle, aunt and cousin to hear, "Bill and Fleur are getting married in three weeks, Harry. You're still coming to the wedding, aren't you?"

He smiled and responded quickly so neither his uncle nor aunt could forbid him from attending the wedding. "Of course, Ron. I wouldn't miss it for the world. See you then."

Once his friend left, Harry turned back to his relatives and put his belongings into the trunk of their car, thinking,_ 'Three weeks … I can make it. Then I'm never stepping foot inside their house again.'_

xXx

After their performance the other night, six of the band mates groaned as they got up and made their way to the kitchen. Each was following the scent of blueberry pancakes waffling through their new apartment.

A loud squeal sounded along with another round of groans emitting from the six gathered around the kitchen table. A hearty laugh came from the cooking black haired female, as the six nursed their mugs of coffee. The squealing female ran into the room, before bouncing up and down with excitement. Seven pairs of eyes turned towards her and waited for her to tell them what was so great.

"Mina-chan sent us an invitation to her wedding!" the enthusiastic blond cried. "Erm… I mean Fleur-chan did! Now we have to get dresses and get packed because our flight leaves tomorrow!"

The white haired male, Kou Yaten, grumbled, "Tune it down a couple notches, blondie. My head is throbbing."

"I second that," responded Kou Taiki's, his eldest brown haired brother.

Snoring came from the two sibling's middle brother, while the blue haired keyboardist, Athena, gave a small smile and stated in unison with the blond haired singer, "Yes, Arty, I will get right on buying a ticket for all of us for tomorrow around noon. Does that sound alright? And no, you're not dragging me shopping."

Arty, the blond, pouted before she poured herself a cup of coffee and asked why they all looked so glum. Laughter came from the red haired female - Kou Kakyuu - who smacked the black haired male around his head, earning a grunt in reply.

"I think _**someone**_ spiked our drinks last night when we celebrated our second performance."

"I _**did not **_spike the drinks," was the male's response.

The lavender haired teen picked up the blue haired computer whiz's book and smacked him over the head with it. "_Rrrrrrrright_, Seiya. Then who did?"

Seiya only made a mumbling sound as the chef, Flora, laughed while flipping more pancakes.

Athena looked at the blond, who was sipping her coffee with an amused look on her face. "Do you want me to look for a temporary apartment while I buy the tickets?"

"Iie, Athena-chan. Oh, your new name is so weird, Ami-chan! I have a house… we can stay in until we begin teaching."

Ami-chan, temporarily living under the name of Athena Megami, shrugged indifferently before taking a sip of coffee, and then resumed surfing the web for the best price of tickets.

After a moment of silence, the shock sunk into Seiya, who loudly shouted, **"WHAT?"**

It was Yaten's, the white haired youngest brother, turn to smack him over the head, hissing out, "You knew about this since we started touring, Seiya-baka. Oh, and by the way, SHUT_** UP!"**_

"When do you plan on moving and will you need help?" asked the eldest brother, the brown haired male of twenty-two years of age.

The lavender haired teen - Megami Hades, blue haired computer-whiz - Megami Athena, black haired chef - Megami Flora, and enthusiastic blonde - Megami Artemis - all nodded in unison without looking at the each other and responded with their gratitude.

Once Flora passed out dishes with blueberry pancakes and they all began eating, Artemis - the blonde haired singer - had a devious smirk cross her face as she raised her eyebrows, "So… who wants to bet on who Fleur-chan's bridesmaid is going to be?"

Her band mates immediately began talking about who or whom the bridesmaids were going to be and handing out money; thankful for the new topic that distracted them from their previous, depressing one. She chuckled and thought, _'I almost feel sorry for the poor soul who gets to be Fleur-chan's bridesmaid… __**almost **__being the keyword.'_


	6. Grimmauld Place & Airports

Chapter 6: _Grimmauld Place and Airports_

It had lasted three weeks. It had barely lasted two weeks before he packed all his stuff up and moved out without a single notice. He had used the Knight Bus to get roughly around the area of Grimmauld Place. Besides it wasn't like anyone in the Ministry of Magic would be looking for him. The shields Dumbledore had erected after he had moved into Number Four Privet Drive had fallen shortly after the late Headmaster's death.

He was now staring at the darkened place before him. It had appeared just like the last time he had been here… right when the Order of the Phoenix was established. It opened unhealed wounds, releasing all the inner turmoil, pain and tears that never graced his face. Oh no, he would never shed those tears because he had a battle to fight - one for the rest of humanity's sake - and he would not lose.

Staying with his only living relatives was his version of Hades, while standing in front of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place only resurfacing the memories that he had buried; once one of the last links to his parents had died. Sighing, he began to drag all of his possessions to the door before it was opened by a thin house elf named Kreacher. His best mate had once mentioned that Kreacher's life ambition was to have his head cut off and placed on a plaque like his mother's and all the other house elves that had served - faithfully or not - the members of the Black family.

He was constantly reminded of the fact that he was not a member of the Black family by Kreacher; however Harry chose to ignore the insults by the rather demented house elf - just like his godfather had done when he was alive.

Dragging his trunk and other possessions, among which was his owl, Hedwig, he made his way to the Blacks' house and looked around at his surroundings. He was definitely going to have Kreacher clean this house from top to bottom, starting tomorrow after he wrote letters to his friends - Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley - telling them he would be staying at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

xXx

Inside the Weasley household, the wedding plans had been finalized and it was the start of a new day. A loud screech filled the hushed house, alerting everyone in the household that a certain silver haired bride-to-be was wide awake and clearly excited about something.

Her fiancé, along with her fiancé's mother, father, youngest brother and sister all made their way downstairs, knowing that they wouldn't get any sleep when the perky bride-to-be was awake. The youngest yawned before mumbling out, "What… what's …" she loudly yawned before finishing, "so good… Fleur?"

The blue eyed, energetic female excitedly gushed out, "Vell… since you asked, Jinny, meh friends 're coming in today! We 'ave to go to pick them up at zhe airport!"

Once the word 'airport' came out of the girls' mouth, Mr. Weasley had rubbed his eyes from sleep, now awake and alert. "Wait - an airport? We have to pick them up at the airport?"

The silver haired bride-to-be's hair shimmered gold as she nodded, "Yes, the airport."

"What's an airport?" asked the lanky red haired teen. "What happens there?"

Fleur giggled at his clueless expression, "Eet is where airplanes arrive, Ron. Meh friends will be coming at noon, which means we 'ave to be there at eleven."

A small, white owl zoomed in through the open window, eagerly pecking Ron's ear with his beak. The teen attempted to bat the bird away with his hand, then took the letter off the bird's short leg. Opening the folded parchment, his eyes quickly ran over his girlfriend's handwriting, before jumping up out of his chair, which fell to the ground with a thud, as he shouted, "**BLIMELY! **'Mione is coming today to. She says the flight number is C39."

"Eh, Fleur, what's a flight number?" he asked looking up at the perky silver haired twenty-year-old woman, who was happily twirling a strand of her hair as she leaned up against Bill Weasley, her fiancé.

Fleur burst out in another round of giggles, "Vell, 'ermione vill be coming in with meh friends. A flight number is 'ow you vill find 'er. I vill show you, Ron."

He nodded numbly at her, picking up the wooden chair from the floor and wondering what an airport was like.

xXx

The former Potions Master of Hogwarts Academy was pacing inside a "safe house" protected by a set of Death Eaters that he had never met before. Running a hand through his jagged, thick black locks, he grunted as he thought back to the night that he killed Albus Dumbledore. Severus immediately shook his head, _'I wasn't… this wasn't supposed to turn out this way... Albus was still supposed to be here… I… there's nothing I can do to make up to the Order for killing him.'_

His laughter resounded in the room, bitter and dark. _'I killed the one man who believed that I wasn't a lousy, good-for-nothing git. I killed the one man who believed I was for the side of light. What would Serena think?'_

He sat down in the middle of the tattered gray couch, clutching his head with his hands that had lost any previous healthiness they once had. _'Serena… that little angel who started food fights at Hogwarts and was able to get away with it with a pout and eyes that watered and threatened to start a never ending flow of tears… oh, how I had forgotten about her… where did Albus send her? She was the only light in this world… she could make anyone smile with those eyes of hers…'_

Leaning back into the couch, Severus let his hands drop to his legs, where they rested and he stared into the fire, watching the flames lick up the wall of the fireplace, burying the memories of Hogwarts with Serena again. _'Now that Albus has died, she might resurface. If she does, she's going to head back to Hogwarts. No doubt about that. I need to find a way to send Draco back to Hogwarts for the sole purpose of him learning from her. She probably inherited Albus' excellent defense skills, his fast accumulation of knowledge and strength in the power of the Light Arts.'_

As a loud, harsh wind whipped past the ancient house of the Riddle family, Severus heard a door snap open and footsteps bound down the stairs. He was greeted with a white blur attached to him around his waist and a horde of tears seeping into his frayed black robes. He rubbed a hand down Draco's back, knowing that the young boy needed comfort and a pillar of support to help him get through the hard times they were about to endure. Another step of footsteps resounded and a scratchy voice announced, "Sn-Snape, Mas-Master will… he will se-see you… now…"

Severus sighed deeply and grunted, "Scram Pettigrew. I know where to find Lord Voldemort."

He heard a high pitched squeak in reply and saw the rat-like man shudder; he felt a deep sense of satisfaction. He gently pushed Draco's white hair out of his pallid face and laid the young boy down on the couch, and muttered, "I'll be back, Draco, don't worry."

The white haired Slytherin student gave short nod of his head before Severus stood up to his full height of six feet and three inches, sneered at the still shuddering Pettigrew before he swept up the stairs, Pettigrew at his heels. He slowly opened the door to the bedroom where Lord Voldemort was situated. Pettigrew closed the door before scampering off to lord knows where.

Severus lowered his head slightly; showing his so-called respect for the pallid man sitting on a burgundy velveteen armchair with wooden legs perched towards the right of the room, next to a blazing fireplace. He didn't dare speak; instead he patiently waited to be addressed.

"Ssseverusss… come forward…" came the low hiss and grumbled voice of Lord Voldemort.

Stepping forward, Severus kissed the hem of his master's black robes before backing away on his knees, head pressed up against the bare, cool, wooden floor. He did not see the man once known as Tom Riddle turn his chair around and peer down at him with his icy red eyes. Nagini slithered out from underneath the chair and stared at the bowing man with her dark obsidian eyes. Voldemort petted the snake before shifting his attention back to Severus Snape.

"Why did you kill Albus Dumbledore, Ssseverusss? Did you not know that I had assssssigned that tasssk to young Massster Malfoy?"

The voice was hollow with a deep feeling of melancholy and buried rage towards the Potions Master. Severus slowly pieced together his words as he barely raised his head off the floor. He was attempting to redeem himself while not mentioning that he was making up the story and to not bring any of his fellow Death Eaters nor Draco into the mess.

"Master, I do not wish to displease you on any standards. Young Malfoy did not come to me, rather that wretched Sybill Trelawney woman - she is a so-called Divination professor at Hogwarts - made a prediction of the future."

He paused for affect and did not raise his face to see the raised eyebrow of his Master. "She claimed that Draco would murder Professor Dumbledore, but she was unable to see how or when. Dumbledore approached me and requested that in place of young Malfoy to kill him, he wished that I would… complete the task… instead. I knew that you had earlier expressed interest in him dying, so I made a rather inane and ridiculous decision that I would kill him. I was unaware of your plan or intentions for young Malfoy, Master. Please forgive your humble servant; I will never do it again."

Lord Voldemort's crimson eyes narrowed at one of his most loyal servants, thinking about this Sybill Trelawney that he had mentioned. Inflicting a _Crucio_ on the Potions Master for merely ten minutes seemed to satisfy the Dark Lord as he then relieved the unforgivable curse and began drilling Severus about Sybill Trelawney.

"Where did ssshe come from, Ssseverusss?"

The black haired man gasped deeply; attempting to quickly recover from the pain he had experienced mere moments ago in order to not displease his lord. "Master - ah - she … Dumbledore hired her the same year … I was. She has made… three prophesies… two that have … been fulfilled. Is there - something… you wish me of me to do, Master?"

Rubbing his hairless chin, the bald man smirked, "No, Ssseverusss. I will find sssomeone elssse to complete the job I have planned."

Still face down on the floor, the Potions Master managed to ask Lord Voldemort one last question before he was relieved of being in the melancholic, grim and darkening presents of his Master.

"Master…" he gasped, "Shall I attempt to… infiltrate the Order… again? That way… I can sneak… young Malfoy back into Hogwarts… to spy on the students."

Shaking his head, Lord Voldemort coldly replied, "Why, that isss a marvelousss idea, Ssseverusss. How do you plan on accomplissshing thisss tasssk?"

Severus sucked in the blood that was pooling inside his mouth to rely. "I haven't formulated a lie that will fly with the Order, Master, but I will bring one to you by the end of my stay this week."

"Excellent, Ssseverusss. You are disssmissssssed."

That said, the bruised and bleeding man managed to pick himself off the floor, kiss the crimson-eyed man's robe once more before he exited the dreary and sullen room.


	7. Curiosity killed the Cat

Chapter 7: _Curiosity Killed the Cat and Satisfaction Restored it._

Boarding the airplane, she growled and ran a hand through her short, straight, - and now - black hair. Hordes of people were **not** her thing - _especially_ at airports. She was going to take one hell of a long nap and nobody was going to disturb her; unless of course, they wanted to be socked in the face.

Dragging a green suitcase behind her, she found her seat and waited for her two friends to slide into the window and middle seats. The petite lavender haired girl slid into the window seat, followed shortly by a dark blue haired girl who was only slightly older than she was. Grinning, she plopped herself into the aisle seat, then stowed her luggage underneath the seat in front of her. Closing her hazel eyes, she took a deep breath and told herself that this plane wasn't going to crash the way her adoptive parents' plane had crashed when she was merely seven years old.

Several hours later and after several strange dreams, she awakened to her hair being tugged on. She yawned, noted that their companions had fallen asleep, and laid eyes on a blond haired girl who was next to her seat, squatting. Her attention shifted to the girls' violet eyes that sparkled through her pain and inner turmoil. "I can't wait to go home, can you, Lil?"

Lil gave the petite singer a hug and smirked in return, "Of course I can't wait. You would have to be bonkers to think that I wasn't. I'd also prefer to not be in this disguise. Oh, and Ren - don't let Mai catch you using our real names."

Ren, the violet-eyed girl, let a soft mutter that sounded like, "Ah, who cares?" however Lil didn't bother to respond to the hushed complaint as she fell back asleep.

xXx

An enraged growl came from a white haired female working inside the mansion, thrusting the windows open in anger and the innocent windows slamming against the sides of the house.

She did not respond, but continued her painting, feeling the soft wind ruffle through her soft, wavy locks while gently brushing her shoulders. She was standing outside of the Greek-styled mansion, several meters away from the ocean that the mansion had been built along. Tugging on her sleeves, she unrolled them from their confinement at her elbows. Then she quickly packed up all of her arts supplies - feeling a powerful wind headed in her direction. She picked everything up and swiftly, yet just as gracefully, made her way into the lavish white mansion. Once she placed everything away, she walked up to the thirty-some steps to her bedroom. She was greeted with her white haired lover, whose clothes were disheveled and she was cradling her head in her hands.

She smiled at the sight, knowing that her lover was distressed about her Koneko-chan, otherwise known as their hime. She sat down on the bed next to her race-car champion girlfriend, placed a kiss on her cheek, before she headed towards the shower. Before she made it through the door, her lover had made her way over to her and embraced her from behind while resting her chin on her right shoulder.

"Why does the wind feel so anxious and restless?"

A giggle escaped her lips and she softly said, "You are the one causing it, Ruka-koi. You just miss your 'Koneko' and the wind is responding to your nervousness. Just relax - I'm sure she's just fine; besides she said she would call once she arrived to England."

"But Michi…"

Michi turned around and poked her lover in the chest, twice. "Don't 'Michi' me, Ruka."

Her only response from Ruka, the white haired race-car champion, was burying her girlfriend's face into the crook of her neck, then a emitting a deep sigh.

xXx

A brown haired teenager sat comfortably in the aisle seat in a group of three airplane seats. She was trying to concentrate on the book she was reading - the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - but to no avail. She was unable to focus her attention and delve into the book because the white haired male sitting on her right was snoring in his sleep.

A smack sounded from the sleeping man's right. She peered over him and saw an auburn-brown haired man reading Hogwarts - A History. She covered her mouth, as to hide her gasp of surprise. How could he read a book from Hogwarts in plain view of other muggles? Hearing him mutter something under his breath to the man sitting between them, she noted that the snoring had quietly stopped.

"Excuse me - sir?" she softly asked, gaining his attention. His lavender eyes bore into her brown eyes as he calmly and coolly responded, "Yes miss?"

She shyly smiled at him - this man had manners and was quite polite, although his voice seemed to be a bit cold. Pointing to his book with her finger, she leaned in as she softly whispered, "How can you read that in plain sight of muggles?"

His face seemed to light up from its stoic look a moment ago. His counter response was, "I have a few tricks up my sleeve. But since you noticed, you must be a witch. I am safe to presume this, no?"

She blinked, realizing that he had caught on, and then nodded. "Yes, I am a muggleborn witch." Only later did she wonder why she had told him that she was muggleborn.

He waved a hand over the book and the words engraved in gold, Hogwarts - A History, vanished one by one. They were replaced with Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown. She felt her mouth drop and quickly inquired how he had used wandless magic with his hand instead of his wand.

He just gave her a small, mysterious smile that made her question whether or not he was nice.

"Ah, but that would ruin the fun in it, now wouldn't it? Besides, magicians don't give away their secrets so easily, and neither do I. I'm sure you've heard the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat,' no?"

She blinked again - he was very intriguing. She wanted to place her finger on where she had seen him before, or at least why she recognized him as she leaned back into her seat. A frown marred her pretty face as she looked back at the book in her lap. This time she was unable to concentrate due to a certain brown haired, lavender eyed wizard.

xXx

One frustrated bride-to-be was nearing the point of dissolving into tears. The Weasley family had just decided that Ginny, Ron and Mr. Weasley would be coming with her to the airport. She and Ginny would find her friends while Ron and Mr. Weasley would find Hermione Granger; Ron's girlfriend of now two months.

Fleur had lent Ginny some of her spare clothes - a yellow tank top, a pair of light blue flared jeans and black thong sandals. The red haired girl had come back down dressed in the clothes with her hair tied in two small buns on either side of her head. Ron had tried on several outfits until Fleur had finally agreed on a plain blue t-shirt and faded pair of black jeans. Mr. Weasley - on the other hand - had tried on at least seven outfits and was going for his eighth.

"Is this _**suitable**_ for the airport?"

He came down dressed in brown trousers, a white dress shirt with the first button loose and a blue tie that was slack around his neck. Fleur looked up from clutching her head in her hands, peering up at her soon-to-be father-in-law between her spread open fingers. She jumped up from the couch excitedly, hands falling from her face, smiling brightly and all four were ushered out of the Burrow by a cleaning Mrs. Weasley.

Fleur insisted on driving so they would be able to get to the airport quicker, which was probably not the safest decision, considering that she only had her license for a few months.

The four made their way inside the revolving doors and suddenly, the three Weasleys began gaping and staring at everything in sight. The silver haired twenty-year-old sighed loudly before dragging all three to find out if the plane had arrived on time. It turned out flight C39 was only twenty minutes behind schedule. Just enough time to haul arse and get down to the gate, Fleur noted before latching onto all three of her companions and shoved them onto the train while whining in French about Mr. Weasley's childish behavior.

Once they reached terminal C, Fleur hauled the three off of the train; Mr. Weasley whined about getting off while Ginny and Ron asked what the luggage was used for. By the time they made it to the gate, she had answered questions about luggages, McDonald's, ice cream, gum, the seats, airplanes and all of the security surrounding the airport. Fleur had had it by the time the passengers started to get off the plane and was thankful that the first of her friends was one of the first to get off the plane. A high-pitched squeal made all of the people in range clamp their hands over their ears in pain, her friend squealed:

**"FLEUR!"**

A blond blur zipped through the people and lunged at the silver haired bride-to-be. Fleur was knocked to the ground with an **"OUF!" **and what was revealed to be a blond haired woman with wide violet eyes sparkling with amusement. Both began speaking in rapid Japanese, which the Weasleys mistook for French. The next to step off the plane was a black haired female who was taller than both of Fleur and the other a blond girl. She raised an eyebrow at them still on the floor, but thrust her hand forward to Mr. Weasley, a small smile gracing her lips as she spoke fluent English with only a twinge of an accent, "I'm assuming you would be Mr. Arthur Weasley since you're standing next to Fleur. I'm Flora Megami and Artemis Megami is the blond, my second youngest cousin."

Mr. Weasley was taken back by Flora's audacity but shook hands with her, nodding as she introduced herself; reminding himself to ask from what language her accent originated from. He pointed to his youngest son and daughter, introducing them to Flora as three other females joined them with three lanky males, all of whom had pigtails reaching their knees. Once Artemis - the blond haired female - had stood up with Fleur, Fleur took it upon herself to introduce everyone as Hermione came up to the group, shocked that the man she had spoken to earlier on the flight was standing next to her boyfriend and his family.

Pulling Artemis forward, tripping over herself, Fleur began her introductions: "This is 'Rty Megami, you 'ave already met Flora Megami. Beside 'er is 'Thena Megami, the one vit the blue 'air. 'Ades Megami is the lavender 'aired girl and Kakyuu Kou is the red 'aired female next to 'er. Taiki Kou is the tallest and brown 'aired boy. Seiya Kou is the black 'aired boy and Yaten Kou is the white 'aired boy!"

Laughing, the blue haired woman smiled before correcting Fleur, "I am Athena, Hades is the youngest and Artemis is the blond. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Right as Fleur was about to continue, Hermione suddenly cut in with her pointer finger flaring at the group, "You're - but - no way! You're the band Moonlight! [1] I can't believe it!"

Her red haired boyfriend blinked twice before hugging the brown haired genius of Hogwarts and immediately was questioning her if she needed help with her 'luggage,' which he proudly emphasized. She heard Taiki mutter softly, "And satisfaction restored it."

"Hermione! You made it!" happily cried Ginny.

Hermione began giggling after she hugged him back, but never explained why she was laughing at him because Fleur had taken the liberty of introducing the Weasleys and Hermione to her friends.

"This is Jinny," before Fleur could continue, the youngest Weasley butted in, "Ginny."

Fleur waved her hands and continued the introductions. "Ronald is the youngest boy Weasley and that is 'is girlfriend, 'Ermione Granger. This is Mr. 'Rthur Weasley."

Their moment of comfort vanished once more as one of the band's obsessed fans loudly screeched that Moonlight was in the airport. It caused a horde of teenage fans to rush forward, shoving pens and paper in all directions at the band members.

All eight members of Moonlight began to flip out, trying to find a place to hide from their obsessive fans. Finding no such place to hide, Artemis grabbed a hold of Flora, Flora grabbed Mr. Weasley's arm, Kakyuu held onto Ginny's hand, Hades tugged on Hermione's arm, Athena clutched on Ron's upper arm while Taiki, Seiya and Yaten were left with the girl's handbags and other loose luggage as they all bolted for the train to Baggage Claim and Parking. All of them safely made it onto the train, just narrowly missing the doors snapping shut as they attempted to catch their breaths from running so fast. Once Ron had caught his breath, he asked, "Do you - you always run - so fast?"

Athena nodded, "It's a daily routine these days - especially when we run from reporters. They're twice as vicious as our stalker fans - and _**that's**_ saying something."

Artemis and Flora meanwhile were focusing on helping Hades overcome the pain she felt in her legs. Hermione watched on in interest as they made her squat on the ground and count aloud her inhalations and exhalations.

"Are you alright?" she kindly asked.

Artemis looked up at the bushy haired teen, who wore a pink t-shirt and jean skirt, then slowly nodded, "Hades gets cramps in her legs when she runs, plus her lungs have restrained, so she's having a harder time regaining control. It's similar to an asthma attack for her, but not exactly the same. Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"You girls sure know how to run," Mr. Weasley panted. "I haven't run like that in ages."

Soft chuckles came from the band members as Hades stood back up and was protectively held by the violet-eyed singer. The black haired drummer ran her fingers through her chin length hair and sighed. A noise sounded and the train came to a stop, then all the people aboard the train stepped off and quickly made their way to baggage claim.

The three brothers picked up their luggage and they all made their way out to the car, where Taiki was dubbed the safest driver of the bunch and handed the keys to the car, enchanted to fit all of their extra guests. Taiki, Seiya, Yaten and Kakyuu decided to check-in at their hotel, while Artemis, Athena, Hades and Flora headed to the Burrow.

Fleur was happily chatting to her friends in Japanese; Artemis remained quite for awhile, just taking in the scenery before she asked who Fleur had chosen to be her bridesmaid was going to be.

Fleur giggled excitedly, "Flora is, of course! You're so silly 'Rty! She **is** my best friend, 'fter 'll."

The black haired girl attempted not to groan, while Hades collected several dollars from each from Artemis, Athena and Flora herself. Flora then asked what the color of the dress was going to be; since she would be wearing it.

"I vas thinking tangerine, but I don't know…" trailed off the voice of the bride-to-be.

* * *

1 ~ _Moonlight_

I thought it was appropriate; besides, I can't call them the Three Lights.


	8. Disagreements, Fights, & Arrivals

Chapter 8: _Disagreements, Fights and Arrivals_

The next morning, all four singers of Moonlight - Artemis, Athena, Hades and Flora - found themselves on random couches and chairs at the Burrow with slightly blurry memories and several empty bottles of sake and other various drinks that they were cradling. Mrs. Weasley was already wide awake, bustling around the house to make breakfast for her family and their visitors as they trudged into the kitchen.

With the exception of Ron and Hermione's friend, Harry, arriving, the morning was rather mundane and uneventful. By the time lunch rolled around, Hades and Artemis were in a hushed conversation with Fleur, Ginny had disappeared, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were discussing their seventh year with Athena and Flora, who were asking questions about Hogwarts Academy.

When Bill returned from St. Mungo's; he was receiving treatment for therapy, Fleur immediately rushed forward to talk to her fiancé and the two disappeared to Bill's bedroom. While her friend was away, Flora began protesting about wearing a tangerine colored dress to the wedding, much to the amusement of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Artemis and Hades. She whined that it would ruin her complexion and make her hair stand out - which she didn't want to happen. Athena merely rolled her eyes in reply as Hades and Artemis stifled their giggles behind pillows and pretended to be absorbed in Ron and Harry's wizarding chess game. Bill stormed down the stairs of the Burrow and angrily shoved the cottage door open, leaving everybody questioning what had been said upstairs.

Around dinner, Bill returned, scowl still engraved on his face, while Fleur had locked herself up in the room she was sharing with Ginny and refused to come out. The Weasleys' four visitors all shared a glance before Athena silently went up stairs to soothe the sobbing bride while Flora and Artemis cornered their friends' fiancé and Hades distracted the Weasleys, Hermione and Harry with a story of the band's tour in Japan.

The black haired drummer of Moonlight pulled the eldest Weasley son outside of their cottage-looking house and forced him up against the brick house with her palms against either of his shoulders and a loud growl, "What the hell did you do to upset, Fleur, prat?"

Bill's hazel eyes narrowed as he spat out, "I didn't do anything."

Emerald orbs blazed within an inner fire as she shoved him again into the house and held him there as she hissed in a deadly voice, "I don't believe you. Bloody prat of a liar. Tell me what you said to her."

Flora slammed him against the house a third time as he denied saying anything to the silver haired woman. She took a step back and began pacing while gripping her hair with her right hand in frustration. Artemis, who had just watched the scene unfold, stepped forward into Bill's line of vision and she softly spoke, "She doesn't care if you have scars lining your body. She wouldn't care if you were the most hideous creature on the planet. She doesn't care because she loves you, Mr. Weasley, and to inform you, Fleur is most concerned about your health and whether or not the werewolf that attacked you will cause you to morph into a werewolf as well."

He snorted in disgust, "You call wanting me to be healed by some healer to heal my wounds is caring about my health?"

Flora slammed the red head into the house again, eyes narrowed in fury, this time causing everyone inside with the exception of Athena and Fleur to rush out as she howled at him, "You bloody selfish bastard! Fleur doesn't want you to die, you bloody fool! She wants to live with you until she dies - you treat her like shit! She loves you, you damn prat, and frankly, I can't see why!"

Artemis quickly picked up where Flora had left off, not letting anyone interrupt the two of them.

"Fleur recently found out that if you don't receive a blood transfusion before the next full moon, you have a fifty-fifty chance of living or dying, Mr. Weasley. She wanted to be the donor until we did some research and found another way to help you. All she wants is for you to try it, Mr. Weasley. It is safer than the blood transfusion, which takes an undeterminable amount of time to find the correct match for you."

The silver haired bride-to-be came rushing from the house, Athena hot on her heals. She sprinted to her fiancé's side, ignoring the fighting stance of Flora to protectively hug Bill before loudly wailing at her friends for hurting him. "Don't you dare 'urt 'im, Flora! Ee love 'im! You can't -"

Hades, the lavender haired bassist, spoke up, "They aren't going to hurt him, Fleur. We just want him to see what you were trying to tell him."

Flora raised herself to her full height as she glared at Bill, who was gazing down in wonder at his fiancée who was supporting him with tears in her eyes, until Flora shifted. She pointed a thin finger at Fleur, "You see that prat? Fleur would do anything for you even if it meant standing up against her own friends and family. You ought to be grateful that she cares so much about you, because I wouldn't have a second thought about hurting you. You ever treat her horribly, you will be met with more than just myself; I'm sure that Haruka would want a piece of you too."

Artemis placed a pallid hand on the black haired drummer's arm, violet eyes shining with understanding of where her friend was coming from.

"I think he got the point, Lora-chan. It is his decision if he wants to go through with the procedure, you know we can't do anything without his consent."

The five foot six woman glowered at the couple, shrugged off her friends' hand and teleported without warning. The blond haired singer looked hurt, but she turned to the happy couple with a soft smile.

"You know that she loves you, Fleur-chan. She would do anything for you. She's just upset."

Ron muttered under his breath, "Upset? More like bloody livid."

The silver haired bride nodded through her tears as Bill tenderly held her. Raising himself to his full height, an arm still around Fleur, he cleared his throat. "What does … the procedure… involve, Miss Megami?"

Artemis turned to the blue haired keyboardist and piped up, "Nothing from you, Mr. Weasley. It will take all of an hour with some other requirements that we are able to get our hands on."

Mrs. Weasley, as any worrying mother would be, asked, "What is this? What's going on?"

Artemis stared deeply into the red haired woman's blue eyes. A smile crept upon her face as she answered the questions, "We - Hades, Athena and myself - feel that we are able to save Bill from his fifty-fifty chance of living or dying during the next full moon, Mrs. Weasley. We have performed this procedure several times before; it isn't difficult and won't take long. Athena will supervise Hades and myself while we perform this old ritual."

"You're witches?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Hades nodded, her lavender braids bouncing up and down. "Yup. Athena's a half-blood, as is Flora, I'm pureblood; not sure how though, and Artemis is three-fourths blood."

All eyes gazed towards the blond singer. "My father was half and my mother was pureblood."

The Weasleys went back into the house as Fred and George - the twin brothers - arrived; surprised to find their family outside with several visitors. Artemis, Hades and Athena left after dinner, leaving concert tickets for the family members as they returned to the hotel to find their already-asleep drummer, Flora.


	9. Moonlight

Chapter 9: _Moonlight_

Athena sighed as she watched Artemis twirl around and ask if her outfit looked okay for the umpteenth time that night. They - Seiya, Taiki, Yaten, Kakyuu, Hades, Flora, Artemis and herself - had decided to open the concert with a dark, gothic song that Seiya had written, called Forever's Mate [1].

Kakyuu had suggested that either Athena or Hades sing the lines that didn't use 'I', which Seiya would be singing; unfortunately for her, Hades had immediately claimed that she had a horrible voice, landing Athena the job.

Behind Seiya and Athena, the music video would be rolling. As the song was sung, the alternating lines showed the appearance of a gothic-fallen-angel Artemis playing 'Forever' and one of the band's friend's playing her mate. Once the lyrics switched to first person, Seiya, Taiki and Yaten were singing together in a screen-version of Hades, the Underworld of Greek mythology. The video had taken nearly a week to finish; Artemis had loathed the itchy dress that the director made her wear for the part of 'Forever'.

While Athena and Seiya would be singing on stage, Artemis, Flora, Hades, Taiki, Yaten and Kakyuu would prepare for their entrance. As a band, they had decided the majority of the songs were going to be deep, expressive, gothic, rock songs that they hadn't been released, with the exception of one song: Shed Some Light [2].

Tugging on the hem of her black corset, she desperately wished the song to be over, so she could go back to hiding behind her keyboards. Hades was complimenting her on the dress while Flora laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It's going to be just fine, Athena. Don't stress out."

She gave her friend a weak smile, nodding. Seiya, dressed in a black silk dress shirt and black leather pants, made his entrance into their dressing room. His sister, Kakyuu, smacked him over the head, and he feigned being hurt.

Standing up from her stool, Athena smoothed any wrinkles on her floor-length midnight-blue skirt before heading over to Seiya. The skirt trailed behind her by several feet and Seiya praised her beauty. Athena gently smiled at him, nervously tugging on the blue lace arm-warmers.

Artemis bounced over, still undecided on her outfit, hugged the poor keyboardist tightly before releasing her. Grabbing a microphone, Athena heard the melody in her ear pieces and made her way out as the black curtains were slowly drawn back for her. She walked out, seeing Seiya already seated and strumming his guitar, she moved towards the center of the stage, closed her eyes before she began to sing.

_"Forever was never so kind before… she remained hidden in the dark… never accepted or praised by anyone… Gods and Mortals cowering alike…"_

Seiya lifted his head slightly, violet eyes gazing out to the audience, his voice full of deep emotions that he usually buried behind his cheery demeanor. _"Can't help it… I stare in awe… such power, such pain… if only they loved you the way I do…"_

She picked up where he left off, _"Bitter and resentful… she had every right to be… her walls of fear, of pain, of hate… they all crumbled into pieces of glitter when he arrived…"_

_ "Can't be her mate any longer… for she is with another…" _Athena could hear the pain that still resonated in Seiya's voice.

Taking a sweeter tone, she sang, _"Far beyond the heavens… on some distant silver star… someone has sent Forever her mate…"_

Seiya's violet eyes closed. _"Can't deny it… I can hear their hearts beat in sync …"_

_ "How she has fallen for him… she won't let him out of her sight… as he won't let her out of his… they vow to be together…" _She began to think about what she had seen of Artemis and her former boyfriend's relationship.

Seiya's voice turned bitter and longing, _"Can't miss those smothering looks of lust… and love… pure passion…"_

Athena moved over towards him, _"Gently caressing the other… they feel as if they have known the other for all of eternity… eternity will no longer tear them apart…"_

He turned towards her, violet eyes expressing all the love he held for Usagi. _"Can't help but be jealous… and wish I had a love like that… so timeless…"_

_ "Bathing in the dark… they are ignorant of those watching them… ignorant of those who wish to be in love… ignorant of time itself…" _

His eyes closed once again as he played a short instrumental piece, _"Can't wait till I meet my soul mate… Will it have the same affect on me?"_

Pushing down the blush rising up her cheeks, Athena shifted her voice into a passionate sound, _"__They make love everywhere… and anywhere… just because they can… leaving only the fingerprints of tender caresses in their wake…"_

_ "Can't help but wish I was Forever's mate… oh, the love I would receive…"_

Athena smiled as she sang her last line. _"They are the utter essence of a forbidden love… created in Eros and Aphrodite's image…"_

Seiya strummed his last chord on the guitar before singing, _"__Oh, to be Forever's mate…" _[1]

The entire audience roared with excited vigor and loud cheers - they were pumped up and ready to rock. Athena noticed hundreds of signs with the band's name - Moonlight - written on them and even a couple with hers. Both of them bowed deeply, before separating and heading to opposite sides of the stage.

Athena crept into the changing room, tugging on a pair of black faded low-rise jeans and tossed her skirt over her chair before patiently waiting by the side stage to make her entrance.

While she and Seiya had disappeared off the stage, Artemis and Hades had come out with their instruments, asking the crowd if they were ready to rock all night. The audience roared in approval and Artemis began the next song.

_"I'm falling apart again… and I can't find a way to make amends… and I'm looking in both directions… but it's make believe, it's all pretend…"_

Taiki, Yaten and Hades took over the chorus: _"So... shed some light on me…and hold me up in disbelief… and shed some light on me… and tell me something that I'll believe in…"_

Athena snuck onto the stage and took over for Yaten, who gratefully smiled at her, as Hades began her verse. _"It's innocence within the maze… but I have chosen the wrong way… I'm still getting over who I was… there's no sense of trust, there's no definition of love…"_

This time Flora, Taiki and Yaten took the chorus, "_So... shed some light on me… and hold me up in disbelief… and shed some light on me… and tell me something that I'll believe in…"_

_"I know now, it's not who you are… It's who you know… and I see clearly now, which way to go… I remember the way I fell from above… and I recall the way I was…" _ Flora sang her verse with such passion and emotion, it surprised the audience; who only roared louder.

Yaten, Taiki and Seiya took the chorus, "_So... shed some light on me… and hold me up in disbelief… and shed some light on me… and tell me something that I'll believe in…"_

_  
_Artemis, Hades, Athena and Flora took over the chorus, singing one right after the other, causing the chorus to end at different times. "_Shed some light on me… and hold me up in disbelief… and shed some light on me… and tell me something that I'll believe in…" _

_  
_Together they sang the last part of the song, giving the song a powerful ending:_ "Tell me something that I'll... tell me something that I'll believe… tell me something that I'll believe…something I'll believe…" _2

As the crowd burst into another round of applause, Flora backed away from her drums to let Taiki play and stepped forward in front of the crowd. A black stool appeared behind her from beneath the stage and she sat down on it. Murmurs ran through the audience as she adjusted her microphone on its stand and began a song she had composed with Artemis, Hades and Athena. Each section would be sung by one of them, creating a different vocal sound.

_"Dear daddy… I'm not two anymore… just thought I'd let you know…" _Flora's voice managed not to waver as Athena sung the next verse. _"Dear daddy… there's so much I want to say…but I can't… I'm afraid it will be ignored…"_

Artemis yanked her microphone to her body, eyes closed as she belted out, _"Dear daddy…this lump in my throat? It's an attempt to try to open up to you…"_

_"Dear daddy… I don't understand why… why you don't call anymore…"_Hades heartbrokenly sang.

Flora took up the next verse, desperately wishing that she could still talk to her step-father. _"Dear daddy… will you still give me away, when I get married?"_

Artemis took vocals for the last time in this song, _"Dear daddy…why did you leave us? … Mommy's heart was broken…"_

_"Dear daddy… is this the way it's gonna be? … Every time I want to talk, you just turn away…"_Athena's voice did break, but the audience didn't seem to notice over the dark beat of the song.

Kakyuu, the red haired backup vocalist, stepped forward, surprising the audience with her expressive voice, _"Dear daddy… I love him; deeply and truly… why can't you see that?"_

The lavender-haired bassist closed her eyes as she poured her heart into her last verse, _"Dear daddy… can I still be your little girl when I'm twenty-one?"_

_"Dear daddy… if I come crying… will you wipe away my tears and comfort me?" _Flora's song ended the song as she opened her dark green orbs, _"Dear daddy… will you promise me… no matter what… you'll love me unconditionally?"_ [3]

The rest of the night flashed in a whirl of photograph lights blinking, hands cramping from signing papers and such, drinking, singing, chatting and dancing for the band members of Moonlight, as they finished their concert and met up with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George and Fleur.

Flora had later grunted out that their friends' fiancé hadn't come because firstly, he was a prat and secondly, he was scared shitless of them.

Artemis, Hades, Taiki, Seiya and Yaten got a kick out of her comment, while Athena shook her head in despair at them and Kakyuu fell asleep in the limo.

* * *

1 ~ _Forever's Mate_

Written by yours-truly, Tenshi. Please don't take without permission.

2 ~ _Shed Some Light_

Shed Some Light belongs to Shinedown.

3 ~ _Dear Daddy_

Written by yours-truly, Tenshi. Please don't take without permission.


	10. Healing and a Wedding

Chapter 10: _Healing and the Wedding_

Fleur and Artemis were the first ones out of bed the morning of the wedding. Fleur was up because she was antsy about the procedure for Bill. Artemis knew that she wasn't going to get any beauty sleep with Fleur fidgeting, pacing, and asking questions about the procedure. So the two were sitting at the kitchen counter of the Burrow, Artemis nursing a cup of strong black coffee, her violet eyes half-open, while Fleur was tracing the rim of her cup of peppermint tea with her finger, holding up her head with her hand, soft blue eyes filled with concern and hope.

Flora was the next to come downstairs and fixed muffins for them, before Athena came down carrying a shaking Hades, who seemed to have some sort of convulsion-panic attack. Artemis took the lavender haired teen in her arms and slowly rocked her back and forth, whispering soothing words of comfort to her. Slowly, Hades calmed down and curled up into ball in Artemis's arms. The blond rested her head on top of Hades' head, listening to the girl's breathing to make sure it was regular. When she noticed it wasn't, she took action.

None of the girls were frightened when a silver aura burst out from Artemis's form, her violet eyes glazed over as if she was reliving in a distant memory. The silver aura came in contact with a dark violet aura mixed with hints of crimson and black that was emitted from Hades's still shaking form. As a comforting feeling spread from Artemis to Hades, the lavender haired teen's breathing regulated slowly and she snuggled into the waiting arms of the blond singer.

"Arty?" whispered Athena. "Do you think Hades will be able to handle the power and magic that will be used in the procedure?"

The blond haired young woman nodded. "She will do just fine. I believe she just had a nightmare from… one of the incidents when she was younger."

The three women around the island shared several glances that all held a similar look of concern and worry for Hades. Flora was the first to glance up at the sky and softly noted: "Only a few more minutes before half of the sun is in the sky."

Athena nodded in agreement as her light blue eyes studied the sunrise, which was casting soft yellows, oranges and reds that were scattering the darkness in the sky from the night. She murmured, "Fleur-chan… you need to wake up your fiancé. We need to get the procedure under way. Flora-chan, would you please inform us right before the sun is above those hills?"

The silver haired bride-to-be crept up the stairs of the Burrow and went to get her fiancé, while Artemis cradled Hades for a moment longer and then carried the teen to the attic of the Weasley's house. The blue haired keyboardist nodded at Flora before she too headed upstairs. The black haired young woman sighed and nursed a cup of tea with milk and honey as she watched the sun surge into the sky with the streams of light it gave off illuminating the sky - it left Flora in astonishment and amazement. She was so busy staring at the sky that she didn't notice a young male with unruly black hair and piercing emeralds for eyes hidden behind glasses had entered the kitchen and was sitting next to her, drinking a glass of orange juice.

"Morning," he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

Flora jumped in her seat from surprise and shock. A sad smile crossed her face as her hazel eyes expressed a sort of longing that Harry had never seen before. "Morning… Harry, is it?"

He nodded numbly; before he realized what he was saying, he blurted out, "You remind me of my father. Did you know him? Are you related to him?"

Slowly tucking a strand of her black hair behind her left ear, the young woman shook her head. "No, I'm not related to your father - James Potter, right?"

His gaze dropped as he nodded.

"I knew him though. Nice man, very much a troublemaker. I suppose you know Sirius Black and Remus Lupin as well?"

Again Harry nodded.

Flora's eyes saddened as she looked at him. _'If only you knew the truth. You've only been fed lies for too long, young one. I'm sorry I haven't been here for you. I shouldn't have left.'_ She didn't realize a frown had embedded itself on her face. _'If only I hadn't been sent away.'_ She turned her face away from the young man who she had known since he was born. The sun was almost over the hills as she took a sip of tea. Standing up, she murmured, "I'm sorry, Harry."

It took him a few minutes for his brain to register what she had said. Looking up, his emerald eyes landed on the empty tea cup that was the only evidence she had been there. She had left the kitchen and disappeared around the bend in the stairs by the time he heard the squeak in the wooden boards.

xXx

As Flora entered the attic, Athena had drawn two huge circles over the floor in what looked like ordinary chalk from the muggle world, but she knew better. It was a rare dry ink from Mercury that Athena had crushed up with a mortar and pestle before she had wrapped inside a delicate piece of parchment paper with a sharp point that resembled a calligraphy pen's tip.

Meanwhile, Hades was setting up bells in each corner of the attic. _'One silver with one gold, a symbol of unity,'_ Flora thought, _'between man and woman, good and evil, light and dark - the opposites that balance the world.' _Shaking her head, she mused that she had spent way too much time with Albus Dumbledore as a child.

Artemis had already changed into the traditional white cleansing robes and was using a black handled double-edged steel blade called an Athamé [1] to draw the signs of the planets in-between the two lines that Athena had created in silver ink. Once she was done, she stood up, pocketed the blade between a black cord wrapped around her waist then pulled her hair into a loose bun before pulling the hood over her head.

Hades then emerged wearing a black robe similar to Artemis's with a white cord. Fleur entered with a groggy Bill, her blue orbs expressing her nervousness and desire to be beside her fiancé. Athena shook her head and Flora gently guided Fleur out of the attic so the procedure could commence.

Athena handed Bill a gray robe and the three women turned away from him so he could change into the robe. Once he was done, Athena guided him into the center of the circles and instructed him to sit cross-legged and remain calm through out the entire procedure. He nodded, while he eyed Artemis and Hades, who know stood on opposite sides of him, Hades standing on the outer circle, Artemis on the inner circle.

The bells began to tinkle, softly creating a soothing lullaby. Athena closed the door behind her, leaving Artemis and Hades chanting so softly that Bill couldn't hear what they were saying. When their voices steadily became louder, he noted that they were not speaking in English - it was a language he didn't recognize.

"Ankoku no Dosei," "_Darkness of Saturn,"_ Hades chanted followed shortly by Artemis, "Hikari no Tsuki." _"Light of (the) Moon."_

Their chanting subsided and Bill closed his eyes, focusing on remaining calm. A burst of black energy emerged from the side Hades was standing on. Simultaneously, a burst of white energy poured out from where Artemis stood. As the energies clashed, it seemed it was a battle of which one would win; however, Bill did not realize that the energies were representations of the magic he had used during his fight with Fenrir Greyback and Fenrir's magic.

He concentrated on being healed and the white energy began to increase and Artemis felt his raw desire to be better. Hades knew that the black energy was slowly losing and she murmured, "Hikari Paazi Mononoke." _"Light Purge Vengeful spirit."_

Artemis poured her own power into the ritual, causing the signs of the planets to peel off the floor, each shining in its own planetary color - the Sun a bright gold, Mercury was glowing blue, Venus a soft orange, the Earth a dusty brown, the Moon a pure white, Mars a burning red, Jupiter a fierce green, Saturn a dark violet, Uranus a dark blue, Neptune a gentle aquamarine, and Pluto a deep crimson. Bill didn't realize that he was slowly moving into a standing position.

The signs then created miniature versions of the planets themselves orbiting around the sun, which Bill was situated under. Hades was relatively surprised that he had remained so calm. As the miniature planets slowly came into a straight line, Artemis called out,** "AKU SOKU ZAN!"** _"Kill Evil Instantly."_

Each planet lit up with its respective color and the powers held within each orb rushed to Bill and through him, sending chills up and down his spine. The moon was the last to enter and purify his body completely; leaving Bill in a sense of serenity that he hadn't felt for a long time.

The circles on the floor then quickly vanished, the bells stopped chiming and the planets disappeared as Artemis collapsed to the floor, her hair spilling out from under her hood, unable to control the powers that had been rushing through her veins like a torrent storm. Bill was then gently placed on the floor like he was sleeping and the gray robe disappeared from his completely human form.

xXx

Everyone in the Weasley household jumped in surprise as they felt the power surge through the house. Everyone was whispering their worries and concerns while Flora held a sobbing Fleur and Athena was murmuring words in Japanese of hope and success.

xXx

Hades rushed over to Artemis and tried to shake her mother-figure awake, but to no avail. Pulling back the hood from Artemis's head, she gasped when she saw the white curls tumble out. She quickly pulled the hood back over Artemis's head and gently laid her on the floor. Using her powers from Saturn, Hades levitated Bill off the floor and wrapped him in a violet blanket before she slowly walked down the stairs to the ground floor.

All eyes were hopeful as they turned to the lavender haired girl.

**"YATTA!"** _"She / I did it!" _she announced happily, but the Weasley family members didn't understand. Fleur was the first one off the couch, squeezed Hades until the point of the young girl turning blue. Flora stood up, a smirk on her face, and Athena mumbled her thanks in Japanese. Flora wrapped an arm around the lavender haired girl, jutted her thumb to the Weasley's and whispered, "They didn't understand you, Des."

Blushing, Hades turned towards the Weasley family, "I'm sorry, I just blurted out that she did it. We managed to do it quite well. Bill was relaxed the entire time, quite a surprise because most of our clients are shaking, nervous and clammy when we begin. That is why we don't allow people in the room during the ritual."

"Flora-mama, I need you to get Arty-mama," Hades softly told the black haired drummer. As soon as everyone in the Weasley family took a deep breath, Flora then headed up the stairs with Hades on her heels.

Athena immediately tugged Fleur's prying hands from Bill's form, telling the bride-to-be she had to get ready for her wedding and her fiancé needed his rest. Fleur nodded and headed upstairs while Athena turned towards the Weasley family, who were hugging each other. She gently placed Bill on the couch where they had been sitting and Hermione approached her. "What kind of ritual was performed, Ms. Megami?"

Looking up at the bushy brown haired girl, Athena smiled. "Just Athena, please. It's an old ritual I found while doing research at Beauxbatons in the restricted section. I believe it dates back to when Beauxbatons first opened, some time similar to Hogwarts opening."

As Flora emerged carrying a limp Artemis, Athena immediately focused her attention on her friend. Mrs. Weasley caught sight of Artemis's white hair tumbling out of her white hood and gasped, "Oh dear, is she alright? What happened to her blond hair?"

Athena, Flora and Hades each looked like a deer caught in a headlight, while Athena turned her light blue eyes to the sleeping Artemis and sighed before she replied, "Artemis has the powers of Metamorphosing. Her hair is naturally white, which is why she constantly changes it. She says it makes her look healthier."

"How does she have white hair?" Ginny asked.

Hades smiled as she kneeled beside her mother figure, playing with a loose strand of white hair after Flroa placed her on another couch, "She got it from her mother and Arty-mama has no pigmentation whatsoever in her hair. I think it's pretty!"

Hermione rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she studied the sleeping woman. "Her pallid complexion reminds me of Professor Dumbledore."

Everyone took the notice of the resemblance before Athena murmured something and Artemis groaned, groping the couch in an attempt to sit up. "Stupid magic drains. Does somebody have Motrin or some meds to cure my headache?"

Hades grinned and launched herself at Artemis, who laid back down at the weight thrown at her. "I love you too Des."

Artemis realized that Hades was crying when she felt tears hit her neck. She wrapped her arms around the shaking teen and slowly sat up. "Des? What's wrong?"

"Y-you p-pro-promised m-me y-you w-wouldn't l-leave m-me, m-mama!" she sobbed. Artemis sighed her actually lavender-blue eyes looked down at the girl and rubbed her back soothingly. "Oh, Hades, I'm not going to leave you. I promised you that before, and I'll promise you again, Hades - I'm not going to leave you."

Harry, Hermione and the rest of the Weasley family relaxed and sat down on the chairs from the kitchen, watching the scene unfold as Athena checked Bill's pulse. Flora then carried him back up the stairs to deposit him in his room as Ron blurted out, "You're her mother?"

Artemis looked up at the startled young teen, her head cocked to one side and when she saw the group gasp, she shook her head. "No, I'm not her mother. Her parents died in an explosion at the hospital where they worked. She stayed with friends of her parents until I adopted her. Hades just sees me as a mother figure and calls me as such."

Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair and mumbled, "Great. My Metamorphosing has disappeared."

"So, Athena, does he look alright? It took quite a bit of energy to rid him of the negative balance in his system." Artemis mentioned, turning the attention of the family back to the situation at hand.

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean 'negative balance', Ms. Megami?"

The white haired young woman smiled, "You'll learn all about it during your last year at Hogwarts, Ms. Granger."

Flora entered the room again, and asked Artemis, "What are you going to do about your Metamorphosing, Arty?"

"I'll have to wait until my power has restored, it may take awhile. I believe that my powers should be fine by tomorrow." Artemis shrugged.

The lavender haired girl in her arms suddenly pulled away, wiping her tear-stained cheeks, and smiled, "For now you can look like a fallen angel!"

The group chuckled at Hades's enthusiasm for Artemis's normal form.

"I suppose I can be a fallen angel for the day, Des."

Suddenly, the fireplace lit up green and out came a black haired woman with piercing violet eyes that reminded Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry of Professor Snape. Dressed in crimson robes, she quirked a slender eyebrow and politely asked, "Is this the Weasley household?"

She received a bunch of nods in response and then she inquired, "Is Fleur here?"

Athena laughed, "Yes, Reika, Fleur's here. She's probably fussing about her hair in her room upstairs."

Reika, their newest guest, turned towards the blue haired Athena, a smile on her lips. "Oh, is she? I should have dyed it purple while I had the chance. Bummer."

Fred and George shared a mischievous look while Artemis, Hades and Flora laughed and Athena hid her smile behind her hand before she replied, "Just make sure she doesn't hear you say that."

Reika then turned her attention to Artemis, her eyebrow raised: "Odango Atama _Meatball head, _what in the name of Kasei have you done to your hair?"

Artemis softly laughed, "I lost control over my Metamorphosing when we performed the ritual."

The raven haired woman shook her head. "Well, your energy output should be about half as much as normal, so that is a good indicator that you should use any magic until tomorrow - unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Yes mother," Artemis retorted. "Jeeze, Rei, you'd think I never paid attention at Beauxbatons or Maryoku! I love you too pyro!"

Reika giggled, "But you didn't, Odango. You practically slept through your classes."

The conversation was cut off when Mrs. Weasley shrieked, "We only have six hours until the wedding! Oh my! There's so much to do! I need to-"

Flora laid a calming hand on Mrs. Weasley's shoulder. "Don't worry about the cake, I have it covered. I think we can manage, just have to be calm and don't fret. We will have guests arriving at random times during the day, so everybody, let's clean up the living room and help get the wedding under way!"

Artemis and Hades were about to get off the couch when Athena shoved them both back down: "Both of you will be resting until you need to be dressed." She turned attention to their raven haired friend, "Would you like to pick up the dresses and tuxedos with me, Rei?"

Rei - as Reika was called - nodded, left her wedding gift with Artemis and Hades before the two apparated to Diagon Alley. They returned twenty minutes later to find Fred, George, Mr. Weasley, Ron, Harry, Charlie, Haruka, Seiya, Taiki and Yaten working on the archways which Fleur and Bill would walk down later that day. Inside, Flora was working on the cake, Hades was carefully watching her and Artemis was asleep on the couch with her head in Setsuna's lap. Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Hermione, Kakyuu, Athena and Michiru - who just arrived - clean up the house and garden.

Athena poked her head out of the half-door to backyard where the guys and Haruka were working. She hollered, "When you're all done, hurry up inside! We have a surprise for you!"

Meanwhile, Reika had gathered all of the females - with the exception of Haruka, who the Weasleys didn't realize was a woman - into the living room. Athena presented Mrs. Wealsey with the first box, the woman's eyes teared up as she opened it and saw a lovely blue dress for her to wear to the wedding with shoes. "Thank you so much, dears! This means so much to me!"

Ginny was the next to open a box. Inside was a lavender spaghetti strap dress with shoes and a shawl. "It's so … pretty! Thank you so much!" she squeaked.

Reika handed Hermione a box that held a green dress with shoes and a shawl as well. She immediately thanked them as Fleur ripped open her box to reveal an off-the-shoulder cream colored dress made of crushed velveteen. She gushed over it and tackled Setsuna in a bear hug, despite Artemis's head was resting in Setsuna's lap. She squealed happily and rushed upstairs to get dressed.

Flora groaned as she received a box, "If it's tangerine, I'm not wearing it."

She pulled out a gold spaghetti strap dress that would cling to her hips and flare out once it hit her thighs. A longing smile crossed her face as she ran her hands over the satin. She then pulled out a gold necklace with an emerald attached. "Setsuna, it's so beautiful. You really know how to make a fairytale dress come to life."

Hermione turned to the dark green haired woman, "You made these?"

Setsuna gave the young girl a sly smile, crimson eyes shone with happiness. "Yes, Ms. Granger, I made them by hand."

"How long did this take?"

A thoughtful look crossed the Time Guardian's face. "I'm not sure. Probably two months at the least."

Athena handed Hades a box with a purple spaghetti strap sundress which had transparent sleeves that flared out at her fingertips. She gushed over it like Fleur had, and skipped to the bathroom to try it on while Michiru pulled out a long black skirt with a light blue spaghetti strap shirt whose hem gracefully fell in a diagonally cut cross from her hip to her thigh. She politely thanked Setsuna and waited for Athena to open her box. A soft blue sundress with a cream crocheted shawl was neatly placed inside.

Rei then opened her box, which contained a long-sleeve red dress that came to her knees and backless. Setsuna gently shook Artemis from her sleep and the white haired woman yawned before she stretched like a cat and curled up next to the Time Guardian. As Setsuna handed the half-awake Artemis a box, Artemis rubbed her eyes and smiled before thanking Setsuna without opening it. Everyone gathered to see what it looked like, but she refused to open it, a sleepy smile on her face.

Once everything was ready six hours later and several fits over hair and not being ready and complaining, Flora, Rei, and Fleur's younger sister, Gabrielle Delacour, all stood in their dresses waiting for Fleur to straighten out her veil for the ceremony to begin.

The entire backyard had been transformed: the two archways were decorated with red roses and yellow lilies, seeing as Flora and Setsuna had discussed the color theme with Fleur for the wedding. White glaze netting covered the entire area, held up magically so it shifted every so often, causing glitter and flower petals to fall gently upon the guests. The guests were quickly filling up the white seats conjured up by Athena and white bows with yellow roses were attached to the sides seats.

Artemis, Athena and Hades were situated next to the second archway, off to the right with Michiru, who was tuning her violin, and Haruka, who was glaring at Bill, arms crossed over her chest. Artemis's dress turned out to be a dark pink spaghetti strap corset with a light pink satin skirt that reached her knees before it slightly flared out.

They had discussed earlier that Hades should be the one to sing the entrance wedding song, and as much as Hades had tried to wiggle her way out of it, she still ended up singing it. She was now getting stage freight, and there wasn't even a stage. She reminded herself that everybody would be watching Fleur, but she still felt nervous.

Hades convinced Artemis to sing a short song to get the wedding procession started, so they chose a quick song and forced Hades to sing the chorus alone.

Artemis stared at the song after Michiru, Haruka and Athena began to play, _"Kiss me out of the bearded barley… nightly, beside the green, green grass… swing, swing, swing the spinning step… you wear those shoes and I will wear that dress…"  
_  
_"Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight… lead me out on the moonlit floor… lift your open hand… strike up the band and make the fireflies dance… silver moon's sparkling… so kiss me…" _Hades closed her eyes as she sang, trying to shake off her nervousness.

Artemis took the second verse before stepping away from her microphone. _"Kiss me down by the broken tree house…. swing me upon its hanging tire… bring, bring, bring your flowered hat… we'll take the trail marked on your father's map…"  
_  
By the second time she had to sing, Hades was calm and relaxed. _"Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight… lead me out on the moonlit floor… lift your open hand… strike up the band and make the fireflies dance… silver moon's sparkling… so kiss me…" _[2]

All the guests quickly sat down and politely clapped when the song was over. Kakyuu gave them a thumbs-up from the second archway, giving them the cue to begin.

Artemis pulled out a flute from her subspace pocket and played with Athena, Haruka and Michiru, as Hades began to sing the traditional wedding song. Her obsidian orbs locked with Harry's emerald eyes and he flashed a shy smile causing a rose color to creep across her cheeks as she softly sang.

All eyes turned to Fleur's younger sister, who appeared in a tangerine dress spreading flower petals on the isle. She was followed by Rei in her red dress holding flowers and then Flora in her gold dress holding the same flowers as Rei. Fleur then entered and walked down the isle, her face flushed in a pretty shade of rose as she caught Bill's gaze. Her dress was exquisite - it hugged her in all the right places and made her seem like a sort of heavenly angel without wings.

Gabrielle and Rei sat down in two empty chairs while Flora took her bouquet of flowers and stood behind Fleur. Placing her hands in Bill's large, warm ones, the wedding began and finished when they sealed their marriage with a kiss.

* * *

1 ~ _Atham__é_

From The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes. It is a ritual knife that radiates male energy and used to cast ritual circles.

2 ~ _Kiss Me_ - Lyrics by Sixpence None the Richer


	11. Moving

Chapter 11: _Moving_

Fleur's bright blue eyes were rimmed in red and filled with tears as her friends finished packing up their stuff and loaded into their car so they could complete their move into their mansion in one swift move.

She, her husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law and their friend waved goodbye as Flora pulled out of their driveway. Athena was sitting next to her, giving the dark haired driver directions while Artemis and Hades were sitting in the backseat on the light blue convertible, waving to the family standing outside of the Burrow.

**"COME VISIT US SOON FLEUR!" **shouted Artemis and Hades before Flora floored the gas.

The silver haired woman nodded and stopped waving as soon as she lost sight of the convertible and the trailer bouncing behind it, before burying her face into her husband's shirt.

xXx

By the time they reached their new mansion, Dumbledore Manor, Artemis was the only one awake and driving. Athena and Flora were asleep in the backseat leaning up against each other while Hades was peacefully resting against the window that had been rolled up during their trip.

Looking up at the Gothic-styled mansion, her violet eyes filled up with tears that she had forced herself to hold back since she had been to her grandfather's funeral a month ago. Wiping the tears away with the end of her tattered sweatshirt, Artemis smiled, thinking of all the fun she had had when she had played with the house elves as a child and all the games she had played.

She pulled up into the round driveway and shut off the engine before she stepped out of the car and headed up to the door. Ringing the doorbell, she patiently waited for someone or a house elf to answer the door. The solid double oak doors slowly inched open as a tiny house elf stood in the doorway. A pair of beady brown eyes peered up at her and Artemis realized she was still in her disguise provided from her Metamorphosing power.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on her magic and tugged on it, causing her body, hair and eyes to shift back to their normal state. Her hair grew out to her knees, now a soft wave of white. Violet eyes bled to a light blue mixed with specks of lavender.

The sudden change of her appearance caused house elf immediately squeak in delight and rush towards her mistress, hugging the young woman around her calves.

"Mistress Serenity has returned home!" cried the house elf.

Serenity, under the form alias of Artemis, smiled down at the house elf and squatted down to her height. "How have you been, Eclipse?"

Eclipse, the tiny house elf with beady brown eyes and dressed in a pink dress that Serenity had once worn herself as a child, bowed to her mistress deeply, her high-pitched voice filled with excitement. [1] "Eclipse has been a very good house elf, Mi-"

Serenity shook her head and patted Eclipse's soft dirty blond hair. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Mistress', Cli?"

The tiny house elf looked down and shuffled her feet.

"Eclipse is sorry, Serenity! Master Albus instructed all of us house elves to call Serenity, Mistress Serenity!" Eclipse burst out into sobs as she thought of her former master.

The white haired young woman blinked. The last time she had been here, only Eclipse and her parents, Lilith and Toya, had been house elves. [2] Had her grandfather adopted more house elves while she had been gone? Why would he have adopted more? Sighing, she remembered that Albus Dumbledore had always had a soft spot for house elves and insisted that they not call him 'Master' or anything of the sort. _'I take after him. I can't stand it either. It makes me feel like a lowlife for being treated like high class society, which I'm not apart of. I'm going to have to grill it into their brains not to call me Mistress. Goodie…'_

Pulling the house elf that she had known since she was a child into her arms, she whispered soft, soothing things to Eclipse before asking, "How many house elves currently work here, Cli?"

Eclipse hiccupped before answering. "16, Serenity. That was the last time Master Albus counted. Master Albus had been bringing them home. Master Albus didn't know why they were there, but he took them all in!"

Serenity smiled - that sounded like her grandfather.

"Alright Eclipse. I would like to meet them tomorrow morning, but for right now, would you please help me with my luggage and my friends' luggage? We will be staying in the Manor until Hogwarts re-opens, alright?"

Eclipse nodded excitedly. She held Serenity's warm, delicate hand as they walked down the steps of the Dumbledore Manor to the car. Serenity pulled her wand from her sub-space pocket and cast a levitating spell on her three friends and waited for Eclipse to levitate the luggage. She stroked Hades' hair before softly murmuring a revealing spell under her breath for her friend. The lavender hair became a dark violet that it normally was and she didn't doubt that the black eyes had returned to a deep Prussian blue. Serenity then cast the same spell for Flora and Athena. Flora's black hair became a rich red-brown now reaching her waist, slightly wavy, while Athena's became a softer blue that reached her waist, straight as usual.

Eclipse was carrying three pieces of luggage - all of them Serenity's - the rest were floating behind her as the two made their way back into the mansion. Closing the door behind them, Serenity turned her attention towards her levitating friends. She quickly walked upstairs with their floating bodies behind her.

Opening a room several doors down from hers, Serenity gently laid Hotaru, who had been under the cover name of Hades for the past month, on the queen-size bed in the room before heading to the room next door, in which she placed Amairé, also known as Athena - or Ami - to the rest of the world, gently onto the bed, and finally placed Flora, or rather Makoto, but actually Sakura, in the room next door to Amairé's new bedroom.

Turning around, she found Eclipse smiling up at her. "Eclipse placed luggage of Serenity's guests in their rooms! Would Serenity like anything else done before she goes to bed?"

"No, Cli," Serenity replied. "I think I'm fine. Just go get some sleep. We're going to clean this mansion tomorrow, purchase new furniture and paint some of these rooms. Good night, Cli. Sweet dreams."

Eclipse smiled up at her mistress before skipping back to her bedroom.

xXx

The next morning, Ami was the first out of bed and rather surprised with her surroundings. The room was decorated in a soft peach color and she found it rather inviting and warm. She threw off the cream colored covers before paddling over to the walk-in closet. She gasped in surprise - all of her clothes, plus others she hadn't seen before, were hanging inside. Flipping through the clothes, she pulled on a pair of slinky, low-rise, frayed, baby blue jeans and a dark blue, sleeveless, turtle-neck shirt. Ami then made her way out of the closet into her new bedroom to fix her hair.

She was shocked to her core when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. When she inspected her light blue hair with dark blue highlights and soft chocolate eyes, she realized that Usagi must have wiped away that disguise spell she had used earlier. _'I have to remember to ask her what spell that was. I have never heard of it before. Hmm. I wonder where everybody else is…'_

Ami then ventured outside of her room. She loudly shrieked and jumped into the air when she caught sight of the house elf standing outside of her bedroom carrying a tray with food on it.

"Good Morning Mistress Amairé!" the house elf chirped happily. "Leilani has brought Mistress her breakfast!"

The blue haired young woman let go of a deep sigh of relief and briefly noted that the house elf had called her by her biological name, _'I wonder how she knew my name. Maybe Usa-chan has something to do with it.'_ "Hello Leilani. Thank you for my breakfast. Can you tell me where Usa, uh, Serenity, Hotaru and Ma, er, Sakura are?"

Leilani nodded, her brown pigtails bouncing up and down in excitement. "Mistress Serenity is in room two down from Mistress Amairé. Mistress Hotaru is on left and Mistress Sakura is on right! Is there anything else Mistress Amairé needs?"

Ami rubbed the end of her chin: "Actually, if you would do me a really big favor and not call me 'Mistress', Leilani, I would really appreciate it. Can you do that for me?"

The violet eyes of the house elf widened, "Miss Amairé does not like being called 'Mistress'? Then Leilani won't call Amairé Mistress!"

Smiling, Ami - or rather, Amairé made her way to her friend's bedroom. Knocking on the door, she heard a groan and rummaging around before a red-brown haired Makoto, otherwise known as Sakura, stepped out of the bedroom dressed in a pair of ruffled pajamas and rubbing her emerald eyes of sleep.

"Huh?" was the response. "Need something, Ames?"

Amairé smiled at Sakura, "I wanted to know if you would like to eat breakfast with me."

A bob of Sakura's head was all she needed before she entered the bedroom painted in soft reds and pinks with mahogany furniture and full-length mirror off to the side.

"You do realize that Sere has erased the disguise from your body, right, Kura?"

A yawn and stomach growled in response. "Eh. Sure, Ames."

Amairé giggled before separating the four pancakes onto two plates and handing her friend the other two before pouring on a load of syrup and fruit, then delved into her food hungrily. Sakura, former known as Makoto, realized what her friend had said as she bit into her pancakes and ended up choking on them. Amairé gently patted her back and asked her if she was alright. Nodding, she took a gulp of water and asked in a hoarse voice, "I look like myself again? What are you talking about, Ames?"

Amairé held back a laugh and pointed to the full-length mirror. "Didn't you see yourself in the mirror, Kura? Sere erased the disguise spell she cast on you before we toured as Moonlight."

Sakura caught a glimpse of her wavy red-brown hair and sparkling emerald eyes, then smiled to herself at the mirror. "I like looking… normal, I guess. Despite the…"

She didn't have to finish because Amairé nodded and asked, "Are your vines giving you a hard time recently?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I figure it's because the new moon is drawing closer. Oh well. It'll be a rough week or two."

The blue haired young woman nodded and made a mental note to look up any possible cures for the pain during the new moon. She was interrupted from her thoughts when Sakura's bedroom door opened again, this time it was Hotaru, who had a questioning and confused look gracing her pallid face.

"Good morning! Do either of you know why we're no longer wearing disguises? I can't find Sere-mama. She wasn't in her room."

Amairé nodded and Sakura took another bite of pancakes, this time chewing thoroughly and thoughtfully: "Maybe she's downstairs, Taru. You know that she likes to disappear at random times. Probably has something on her mind and she doesn't want to be disturbed."

Twirling a loose strand of her violet hair, Hotaru plopped down on the floor. "I like all the new clothes that are in my closet. I wonder where Sere-mama bought them."

Amairé chuckled, "Probably in Diagon Alley, Hota. I've heard they have added new shops since we were last there."

Sakura nodded. "I hope they put in a new ingredient shop since the latest one was put out of business."

After their half-an-hour chat, Sakura changed into a pair of faded dark blue overalls and a green tank-top while Hotaru met Amairé and Sakura outside of Sakura's room in a lavender zip-up hooded sweatshirt, black mini-skirt and violet leggings that reached mid-calf. Smiling and chatting happily about their memories of Hogwarts, they headed downstairs and found their now white-haired friend perched behind a red cherry desk and was arguing with someone on a magical telephone.

Her face lit up with a smile as she caught sight of them and she promptly cut the phone call short, greeting her friends. "Good Morning! I hope you all slept well."

All three replied happily and Amairé questioned Serenity about their plans for the day.

"I was hoping you guys wouldn't mind helping me redecorate this old mansion. I want to make it homier while we stay here. Does that sound alright?"

Hotaru bounced up to her with a smile and wrapped her arms around Serenity's slender shoulders. "Of course Sere-mama! Can we stop at my vault in Gringotts? I want to buy new books and lamps for my room!"

Serenity nodded, stood up, dusted off her light blue dress pants and straightened her white Victorian-styled blouse before she said, "I have to make a stop later tonight by myself-" before any of her friends could protest, she continued, "_**however**_, I will take Hotaru in her dragon form with me, because I feel she has a right to come with."

Hotaru, Amairé and Sakura slowly nodded, understanding the deep gravity of the situation at hand and Hotaru realized that the meeting might have something to do with her parents. Serenity cast a spell on herself and her clothes shifted to a flared white jeans and a baby blue tank top with a cream scarf wrapped around her neck and dark blue train cap on her head, hiding the four buns she had tied the top half of her hair in, they reminded her friends of Luna's hair when she was in her human form.

Linking arms with Hotaru, she smiled and announced their "quest" to refurnish Dumbledore Manor and flooed to Diagon Alley where they spent the majority of the day, searching for new colors to paint the walls, lamps, books, chairs, desks, pieces of furniture that they wanted, bedroom furniture, clothes, ingredients for food and potions as well as random things, such as a broom for Hotaru to practice on and school supplies ahead of time. The store owners were surprised that people were shopping for school supplies so early, but were even more taken back by the fact that Dumbledore's granddaughter was shopping in their store, let alone that he _**had **_a granddaughter, who seemed nothing like him, but sweet and kind all the same.

When the four returned to Dumbledore Manor with their purchases, the house elves were showing the furniture movers where to place the new pieces of furniture Serenity had purchased earlier that morning and were removing the old furniture to the room that Serenity had ordered the house elves to make their own and live in. Amairé, Sakura and Hotaru were surprised by all of the house elves, for they had never seen so many in their lives. Serenity then introduced all of the house elves to her friends, who - she told them - would be staying with them until further notice.

The youngest of house elves was Tenshi, merely three years old and was able to fit into Serenity's baby clothes. Her mother was Ai and her father was Yuki, and she had four siblings: Tora, Tyra, Toki and Trista. Xavier was the second eldest male and married to Hecate, and they had three children: Sakura, Yuri and Hikari. Leilani was the only house elf without family members, but she was engaged to Toki. The last of the house elves were Lilith and Toya, who had remained loyal to the members of the Dumbledore line since Albus was born, and their only daughter left with them, Eclipse, who was engaged to Hikari. [4]

Hotaru plopped herself on the floor and played with Tenshi, who was in awe that she was playing with her mistress's friend. Smiling, Hotaru connected the loose pieces of a Lego train and put them together before moving in front of Tenshi, whose green eyes lit up and she happily grinned before attempting to step on it like she was Godzilla or King Kong.

Serenity and Amairé began directing the furniture into the multitude of room in the manor while Sakura headed towards the kitchens with Ai, Lilith and Leilani to cook dinner for everyone.

Two and a half hours later, Serenity and Amairé plopped down on their new crimson leather couch, admiring the new family room that was decorated with red lamps and floating candles that complimented the cherry wood pieces of furniture. Serenity had insisted upon a television and video game system and was eager to try it out. Hotaru joined her for a brief game until Sakura came in carrying part of their dinner with Ai, Lilith and Leilani bringing in other foods.

They sat down at their new dinning room table made of mahogany with a newly installed chandelier hanging overhead. They happily ate with the house elves before Serenity excused herself and headed to her bedroom.

Ignoring the furniture and cans of paint on the floor of her bedroom, she stepped into her walk-in closet and began searching for an appropriate outfit to visit her "uncle," Sirius Black. Finally deciding upon a wine colored satin dress shirt with a floor-brushing black skirt that was made of crushed velveteen; she flashed herself a smile in the mirror before pulling on a thick, floor-length black robe with silver clasp and headed downstairs.

Hotaru was waiting for her downstairs, patiently, yet fidgeting. Before leaving, Serenity told Hotaru to shift into her Animagus form, an onyx skinned Futs-Lung Dragon with bright violet eyes [5]; a rare species of the dragons that Hotaru's mother had also been able to become.

"I will refer to you as 'Hades' as an Animagus, alright?" Serenity told Hotaru before she shifted into the baby dragon. Smiling down at the curled dragon in her arms, Serenity spoke in Parseltongue. _"Are you comfortable, Hadesss? Isss it alright if you ssstay in my arm for the journey?"_

Hotaru hissed back in Parseltongue as she wrapped her body around the arm of Serenity, placing her head next to Serenity's wrist and gently shifting to become comfortable underneath the back robe. _"I will be fine, Sssere-mama."_

_"Make sssure you call me 'Missstresss' in cassse we come acrossssss anyone who ssspeaksss Parssseltongue, alright?"_ [6]

A nod from the Futs-Lung Dragon was enough for Serenity. She bid her farewells to Amairé and Sakura, who wished her a safe journey then headed to their personal bedrooms to sleep.

Serenity pulled out her wand from inside of her robe and stepped aboard the Knight Bus, a violet bus with gold letters printed on the side. She told the conductor a street near 12 Grimmauld Place not needing any strangers to lurk behind or following her. She knew how much Sirius disapproved of people he didn't know finding out how his house appeared.

She sighed and shook her head softly. As she fidgeted in her seat, she felt Hotaru constrict around her arm, searching for a piece of security. She patted her arm, trying to look inconspicuous as the conductor told her they had reached her stop. Stepping off the violent bus, she pulled up her hood and tugged on a pair of gloves.

'_Here goes nothing…'

* * *

_

1 ~ Eclipse is a house elf of my own creation. Please don't take.

2 ~ Lilith and Toya are also my own house elves; please don't take.

3 ~ Again, Leilani is my own house elf - please don't take!

4 ~ All of these wonderful house elves are mine!

5 ~ I do not know if there is such a thing as a Futs-Lung Dragon. I can tell you that it is an Asian mythological dragon which is also known as The Underworld Dragon. It supposedly guards precious metals and gems. It seemed to fit well with Hotaru being the senshi of death.

6 ~ Dragons don't speak Parseltongue as a rule of thumb; Hotaru is a special case.


	12. Meeting Dumbledore

Chapter 12: _Meeting Dumbledore_

The wind whipped past and all around, entirely oblivious of the female making her way through the harsh wisps of wind down a dark lane illuminated by a lone lamp at the end. Small white sparkling particles descended from the darkened sky, bathing the earth in its pure color. She pulled her lined black robes closer to her neck, attempting to keep warm. A giggle escaped ruby lips as a snowflake landed gently on the tip of her white nose, which was just barely peeking out of her dark hood. Stopping, she stood a few meters away from the two houses - numbers Eleven and Thirteen - odd to muggles; why would number Twelve be missing from this group of houses?

A loud crack sounded as a darkened house appeared between the two lighted houses. Moving towards the just emerged house, her body shook uncontrollably and she knocked on Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Her face formed a confused frown when no one immediately answered the door. This place was usually bustling with people. Knocking louder, she heard several loud, disturbing, grumbling noises from the other side of the door. It swung open and in the doorway stood a rather intimidating dark haired young man with his eyes narrowed at her behind his round glasses.

Attempting to smile, she shivered again and timidly asked, "Is Mister Sirius Black available to speak to, sir?"

If the young man's eyes could have darkened anymore, they probably would have, as he harshly snapped, "He's dead, lady. What do you want?"

She gasped, both gloved hands flying to her mouth. She took a clumsy step backwards and finally caught her footing as the candid words set in. "Oh my… excuse me… for… disturbing you… I'm… just… I'm…"

Her eyes immediately found something interesting on her shoes as she stopped stuttering. Raising her covered head slightly, she finished, "Never mind. I'm making a sheer idiot out of myself by just standing here."

The man's face seemed to soften a bit as it frowned in misunderstanding. His ears perked when he heard her mutter softly in hisses that he knew to be Parseltongue.

_ "I'm ssso sssorry, Hadesss. You'll never meet him now. Damn. I return and everyone I ever knew isss dead."_

He immediately grabbed her upper arm when she turned, gruffly pulling her into the gloomy house. Her lavender-blue orbs widened underneath her hood in complete shock as she was man-handled into Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. When she finally registered what happened just happened, she glared at the black haired lad and sharply demanded, "What was that for, mister…?" Trailing off, she waited for him to announce who he was.

"Harry Potter," came the gruff, yet depressed response. His eyes had quickly changed from the glared fixture they had been in, to reveal two melancholy looking emerald eyes. He caught her gaze, "I speak Parselmouth, I heard every word you said. I don't mean to appear to be rude, but I don't want Muggles getting any ideas of figuring out how this house appears."

She tapped her chin with her gloved pointer finger and relief flooded her body. "I had no idea that you spoke Parseltongue and I completely understand why you wouldn't want Muggles snooping around here. Forgive me?"

He nodded and she set to fidgeting once again. Then she tugged on the end of her black robe and a dragon with black skin clambered out into open view. It raised itself on its hide legs to the visitors' hood and studied him with its violet eyes. His entire body tensed when his eyes landed on the dragon, trying to make sense of how a dragon could speak Parseltongue - the language of snakes.

"Futs-Lung dragons also speak Parseltonge, Mr. Potter. Her name is Hades. She's quite sweet when she's not angry," his visitor explained, before pausing and then clearing up just why she had shown up. "You see, Mr. Potter, I… I simply wanted to ask Sirius about several things. It's very sad to hear he's no longer with us…"

A shuffling noise caught her attention and the bottom half of the wooden door to her right opened, revealing an anorexic looking house elf with a balding head, lad in only a loin cloth. Two squinting eyes turned upon her and extremely high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the miserable house.

"Kreacher," Harry snapped irritably, "shut up. And bring out some tea - as you can see, we have a visitor."

The house elf stared at her as he walked out of the room, after deeply bowing to the dark haired teen, eyes still fixed on the visitor. Seconds later, Kreacher scurried back into the room carrying a tray with two white tea cups rimmed in gold with matching saucers, a gold spoon, a bowl of sugar cubes and a tea pot. Once he put the tray onto the coffee table, Kreacher bowed again and inched away from his master, waiting for another command - eyes fixated on the visitor.

She was observing the entrance room - it was covered in greens and highlighted with hints of silver. She smiled softly to herself; nothing in this room had changed, with the exception of the removal of the portraits. _'Siri-kun never liked them anyways,' _she mused, while a small smile graced her face.

Her attention returned to Harry as he gestured toward a dark green armchair next to a bare fireplace. A rose color spread across her face as she squeaked out, "I'm deeply sorry, Mr. Potter. I'm afraid I was distracted for a moment there. What were you saying?"

"Please take a seat," he repeated, studying the hooded visitor. Pulling forth his wand, he created a fire in the fireplace, bringing light into the room. Looking down at the tray, his eyes narrowed at the pathetic excuse for a house servant, "Kreacher, I didn't tell you to bring a bowl of sugar."

The house elf mumbled incoherent words under his breath before he announced, "They're not for you, _**Master**__._ They're for **Mistress Serenity**."

Emerald eyes stared at the house elf, narrowing at him. His attention shifted to his visitor, "Is your name, Serenity, by any chance?"

She nodded immediately, then reached over to pour herself a cup of tea and dumped at least five sugar cubes into her cup; stirring the murky hot liquid slowly.

Harry then went back to grilling the house servant, "How do you know her name, Kreacher?"

Before the house elf could response to his Master, she cleared her throat, "Excuse me, Mr. P-"

"Harry - just Harry - I'm not married."

She covered her mouth with her now glove-free pallid hands, but didn't manage to hold back the giggles that escaped. Opening her lavender-blue orbs again, she smiled and took a sip of tea, "Well, Harry, Kreacher has known me for a very long time. Haven't you Kreacher?"

The house elf nodded his head in confirmation and she continued, "You see… Harry… Sirius adopted me - not really adopted - you get the point. I stayed here when I was very little and Kreacher and I were playmates. This was before… well, before my grandfather's niece took me in and raised me to act like a muggle. Ah, those were the times, weren't they Kreacher?"

The house elf was now smiling, which came as a shock to Harry, enough to cause him to nearly lose his composure. His visitor swept down to floor to hug the disturbing creature - whose life ambition was to have his head chopped off and stuck up on a plaque like his mother [1] - then he completely lost his composure and had always believed the house elf to have no heart - until Kreacher raised his skeletal arms to hug the visitor he had called Mistress Serenity.

"Mistress Serenity!" Kreacher announced happily in his deep voice, "How Kreacher has missed you! How tall you are!"

Another round of giggles escaped from her wine colored lips, "Oh Kreacher, how silly you are!"

She removed the hood from her head, revealing white-silver hair. The top half was tied into four neat round buns in the back of her head close together; the rest fell in its natural waves to her knees, currently spread on the dusty hard wood floors. She extended her hand towards Harry as she raised herself to her full height and apologized, "I'm sorry for not introducing myself… Harry. I am Serenity Dumbledore, but please call me Sere or Rena, alright?"

He numbly nodded as his eyes widened in realization of just who she was. His jaw slacked and hung open as he stuttered, "Blimely… you're… wait, you're Albus Dumbledore's - his daughter?"

* * *

1 ~_'Whose life ambition was to have his head chopped off and stuck up on a plaque like his mother.'_

I have reworded the line from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; said by Ron.


	13. Revelations & Invitations

Chapter 13: _Revelations and Invitations_

Her head thrashed back and forth at the mention of being his daughter. "Oh, no, Harry, I'm his granddaughter. My mother was his only daughter."

Fidgeting again, she continued her train of thought, "I was raised by Grandpa at Hogwarts - that's how I met Sirius."

Flashing a smile, Serenity sat back down into the chair, attempting to relax as she used to, then leaned forward to take a sip of tea. Her orbs of lavender and blue bore into his as she studied him and the house elf scampered off.

"So, Harry…" her voice trailed off, as she pieced together her words to what she wanted to say without prying into his life too much. "How long have you… owned… Grimmauld Place?"

After raising his cup of tea, he felt his body shake, which she noticed, then quickly apologized for asking such 'an absurdly rude question' which 'was none of my nosy business anyways' and 'excuse me for being so bold to even ask.' Harry shook his head, and responded bitterly, "A year now… Ms. D-"

She wagged her finger back and forth in a negative manner, "No formalities, Harry. Just Sere, please."

Exhaling a deep breath, Harry shifted his glasses up to his nose to see her better and quickly regained his composure, thinking, _'She's very curious and remarkably similar to Dumbledore… only there are slight differences between them.'_

"Well Serenity," he immediately continued before she could protest to the name, "where did you travel from to visit this ruddy shack?"

"Japan," was her short, sweet answer. "I got back in time for my grandfather's funeral. I never got to say hello to anyone though, it was … too emotional for my liking."

Twirling a strand of her loose white hair, her smile was distant as was the look in her eyes as she began rambling subconsciously, "Grandpa never liked people crying… especially me. I suppose that's why he never mentioned who my parents were - or anybody for that matter. I knew he would have been upset had I cried at his funeral, so I excused myself early."

Harry rubbed his chin, trying to remember if he had seen her there, but with no luck. "I don't remember seeing you there. You didn't give a speech, did you?"

Her giggle reminded him of a set of chimes as she grinned from ear to ear while shaking her head, "You see Harry, I've been living as a muggle singer for the past couple of months. Have you heard of Moonlight?"

He shook his head, curiosity getting the better half of him as to why she mentioned it.

"I'm undercover as Artemis Megami - the lead guitarist and singer, Harry."

Serenity cleared her throat, sobered her face up to a solemn look and closed her eyes. Her hair immediately changed to a dark blonde with lighter highlights scattered among the black streaks and braids. She hummed several notes and sang softly, _"Heaven holds a sense of wonder… and I wanted to believe… that I'd get caught up… when the rage in me subsides… in this white wave… I am sinking … in this silence… in this white wave… in this silence… I believe I have seen you… in this white wave… you were silent… you are breathing… in this white wave… I am free…" _[1]

Harry's emerald orbs widened in shock. "You were the one who healed Bill Weasley before the wedding a couple weeks ago! Why were - er - why are you hiding?"

A mysterious smile crossed Serenity's face laced with sadness that Harry found himself relating to. Her hair returned to its soft white waves and her eyes morphed into a soft lavender mixed with blue as she willed away her Metamorphosing powers. She traced the rim of her teacup with her index finger, eyes boring into the murky liquid.

"I am no longer sheltering myself from the Wizarding community, Harry." she whispered. Looking up, their eyes locked, "My grandfather was placed under the Fidelius Charm [2] to ensure that no one would find me. I believe he thought if Lord Voldemort knew of the prophecy that was made about me, the destruction of wizarding kind would ensue. I have only recently come back to the Wizarding world for reasons I wish not to disclose; however, I will tell you this - I know about the Horcruxes, grandpa informed me of what the two of you were doing. I am quite confident that I can help you find several of them before the battle."

Taking a sip of her tea, she continued, "I will be the Defense professor at Hogwarts starting second quarter," Harry's eyes narrowed as his gaze snapped back up at her. He thought she was going to convince him to go back to school; he tried to interject, but failed. "Furthermore, I am aware that you choose not to come back to the school, I am not here to pressure you into returning. My grandfather would have wanted me to, but I feel that you are going to be of age and it is firmly your decision to choose what you want to do. I will say that I wish you would at least visit Hogwarts to receive some help and guidance from me or any of the other professors, alright?"

The white haired woman smiled again as the dark look on his face fell and he looked down at the cup he had been gripping.

"Well, enough of the boring stuff, Harry. Tell me about yourself."

His head snapped up in shock as he looked back up at her. He watched as she placed her cup back onto the table in front of them, "If you don't want to talk, I understand. I am still recuperating from my grandfather's death. It wasn't a shock; I knew he would leave me someday. It always seems that the people closest to me are taken from me. Oh, excuse me, I'm rambling on."

Harry started at his mentor's granddaughter for a moment and he suddenly blurted out, "Who is your father?"

If Serenity's face could have paled any more, it would have, seeing the amount of shock she received from the question. Shaking her head gently, she answered, "I was never told. My grandfather refused to speak to me about it. I have lived the majority of my life with my grandfather's cousin, Tsukino Ikuko along with her family and they did not know who he was either. The only one who ever knew my father was my mother and I can only surmise that she had a reason not mention him to anyone."

Softly sighing, Serenity thought about all the information she had searched through to find her father. Shaking her head, another smile crept across her lips.

_"Missstressssss…"_ hissed the dragon situated around Serenity's arm. _"Excussse me for interrupting, but Missstresssss Hotaru isss growing weak. Ssshe needsss help."_

Serenity's eyes saddened as she looked down at the Futs-Lung dragon. She looked back up at Harry, "Do you want to know who Hotaru is, Harry - I am well aware of the fact that you understood what Hades said."

Harry slowly nodded and the white haired young woman gently smiled despite her saddened eyes. "I adopted Hotaru when she was fourteen. I actually came to ask Sirius if he ever found out about what happened to Hotaru's mother. He dated Hotaru's mother for awhile after graduating Hogwarts. Well, Hotaru will be attending Hogwarts next year and I'm sure she would love to meet you. Can we arrange to have a dinner so you can meet her sometime?"

Harry nodded numbly. "Uh… I don't have a schedule or anything. I'm still thinking about the Horcruxes… and where to find them. Do you have a date in mind?"

Rubbing her chin, Serenity answered, "How about some time next weekend? I'm sure she'll want to know all about Sirius because she likes to think he might have been her father. But anyway, you can come over and spend part of your summer vacation with us, if you wish."

The young teen nodded again, ignoring the suggestion about spending time with them when he heard that young Hotaru thought Sirius might be her father. _'Is it possible that he had a daughter? Remus said that Sirius hadn't had a serious relationship since his fiancée had disappeared. But Sirius said the Ministry reported her to be cynically insane in St. Mungo's…'_

"I should take my leave now," came the soft voice of Serenity and she picked up her cloak, quickly putting it back on as Harry's attention snapped from his thoughts back to reality. "I'm sorry for being such a poor host. You don't have to l-"

She shook her head gently and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I have much to do for the new school year along with redecorating Dumbledore Manor. I also need some sleep and I think you need it as well. I will owl you, alright, Harry?"

He nodded again and opened the door for her as she pulled up her hood and put on her gloves. He barely heard her last comment as she slipped into the completely darkened street, "I would like to sit down sometime and tell you about your parents, Harry. I hope we can talk sometime."

* * *

1 ~ _"Heaven holds a sense of wonder … I am free."_

'Silence' by Sarah McLaughlan. It has been redone by Delerium and sounds _**sweet.**_

2 ~ _Fidelius Charm _

Borrowed from Harry Potter series. A charm used to hide something/someone from all people. The secret in question is concealed inside the soul of the Secret-Keeper, who is the only one who knows the whereabouts of the hidden person/item.


	14. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Chapter 14: _A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words_

Albus Dumbledore shuffled around his bedroom at three in the morning, pulling on a robe as he headed for the room next to his. He had been awakened by the loud cries of an unhappy baby. Upon entering the room, he spotted the little girl bawling and clutching to the side of the crib.

"Aw, Rena, why did you have to get up so early?" he asked the white haired little girl as he picked her up from the crib, "You should be asleep little one. Three is a wee bit early to be awake."

A pair of chubby hands grasped at the man's beard and part of his robe as soon as she was tentatively being held by the professor. The little girl rested her tiny head against Albus's shoulder while firmly sticking to his robes like glue. The baby's cries had been reduced to whimpers and a sort of humming noise, that Albus recalled his own daughter making as a child. He rocked the little girl back and forth, murmuring unintelligent sounds with his mouth.

As soon as the humming noise slowly ended, a sigh escaped his lips - he wouldn't be going back to bed anytime soon. Albus slowly sat down in a rocking chair in the room-turned-nursery, carefully, as to not disturb his granddaughter. Resting his eyes, he did not feel Hypnos dragging him back to the realm of dreams. [1]

xXx

He flew from the rocking chair as fists banged up against the door to his chambers. Albus let go a deep sigh when he realized little Rena was sleeping peacefully in his arms despite the racket. Kissing the crown of the little girls' head, he gently placed her back into the crib, seeing as her grip had weakened while she had fallen asleep. The door slowly and soundlessly closed behind him as he left, before he turned his attention to the person knocking on his office door.

After opening the door, Albus caught sight of a young woman with her dark brown hair flowing around her shoulders in soft waves and her chocolate eyes narrowed at him behind rectangle spectacles.

"What was keeping you, Albus?" she demanded as soon as she stepped foot inside the Headmaster's office. Upon scrutinizing his face - especially the black marks residing under his usually twinkling eyes, she deemed that he was in desperate need of sleep. "You seem like you haven't gotten any decent sleep since Serenity was sent to you. Are you sure you don't need one of the other professors or myself to take her for a while? It would do you some good."

Shaking his head, Albus replied, "It's alright, Minerva, she's only nine months old. Rena got up at three this morning. I'm glad she has been sleeping in later - that's an improvement. Alas, that is not the reason you came here, what can I help you with?"

Minerva sighed - Albus was a stubborn beast when he wanted to be; he loved that little girl like his own daughter.

"We need you to help us set up for the Welcoming Feast this evening," the transfiguration professor announced. "And we need to find a way to keep little Serenity from disturbing your sl-"

Another round of wails ensued from the little girl in the make-shift nursery. Albus sighed and rubbed his temples, but before he could stand up, Minerva had swept over to the nursery and retrieved the white haired baby girl. When she reentered the office, little Serenity was attempting to pull off the glasses Minerva was wearing. Albus chuckled at the picture the two made and the white haired cherub's attention turned from the glasses to him. Clapping, she gurgled before looking up at Minerva with a pair of bright light blue eyes filled with lavender sparkles.

The brown haired woman smiled down at the nine-month-old before handing Serenity over to the Headmaster. "She is quite a bundle of joy, Albus."

As if a light bulb went off over the Transfiguration teacher's head, she announced, "I have an idea, Albus - I have a way to relieve you off all the stress with Serenity and running this school!"

"Well, indulge me, Minerva."

A smile light up her face as a pair of twinkling lavender-light blue eyes and a weary pair of blue eyes stared at her. "We can choose a total of eight students - two from each house - to help take care of Serenity during the school days and you can still have her for bedtime and on weekends. It will help reduce your stress load and give you a chance to catch up on much needed sleep as well as the pile of papers you need to deal with."

Albus looked down into the bright eyes of his granddaughter. She smiled at him, a pair of dimples protruding, and a chubby hand grasped at his beard whilst trying to touch his nose. As he shifted in his seat, Serenity fell from her swaying-standing position to a seated position in his lap. A pout crossed the white haired girl's face as she realized what had happened.

"Alright, Minerva," the Headmaster of Hogwarts conceded, "we'll give it a shot. Tell the Heads of the Houses they have two weeks to choose their top students - I don't just mean academic wise. I will either approve or disprove of the students chosen. We will also have to send letters to their parents to explain what is happening."

Another smile crossed the Head of Gryffindor House's face. "May I tell you who I have already chosen?"

Albus raised an eyebrow at his deputy headmistress, but nodded anyway.

"Lily Evans and Remus Lupin."

The customary twinkling returned the pair of weary blue eyes, "Ah, I see. During Remus's transformations, Lily will take care of her. Without doubt, I approve of those two."

Minerva beamed and happily walked out of Albus's office with a slight bounce in her step. Albus turned his attention back to the little bundle of joy in his lap and leaning down, he placed a kiss on her nose. Serenity giggled and both hands latched onto his nose; she had caught the object of her attention.

The Headmaster swept back into his granddaughter's nursery, quickly changed her diaper and dressed her in a pink dress with silver trimmings. He then tied her hair into two soft buns on either side of her head with silver ribbons tied around them. Smiling down at her, he pulled on appropriate clothes before pulling on a gold robe with red trimmings and tying his beard with a red ribbon. Sweeping his granddaughter into his arms, he kissed her cheek while her attention turned to the red ribbon wrapped around his beard. They then proceeded to the Great Hall, where the other professors were discussing which students were capable and worthy of caring for the little girl that had wormed her way into all of their hearts over the past three months.

As he took a spot at the table, Albus was immediately greeted with an ever-persistent Potions professor and Head of Slytherin House, Horace Slughorn. "Good morning, Albus. I want to discuss this student-care situation for Serenity. Are you sure that this is a good plan? You seriously can't trust a bunch of teenagers with this precious angel!"

Serenity was the precious angel Horace was referring to, whose eyes lit upon the sight of one of her favorite people besides her grandfather. Her hands reached for Horace's wiry mustache, which was the most curious thing to the nine-month-old. When her grandfather gently shifted her into his other arm and turned her to face him, she let out a squeal of protest before happily devouring the food on a spoon Albus offered to her. Serenity leaned into to suck on the spoon and wouldn't let go until it was gently prodded out of her mouth.

"I think I will give the student-care situation a chance. Have you chosen the students from Slytherin who will be taking care of Rena?"

Horace sighed defeated - the Headmaster had already decided to see the plan through. Rubbing his temples, he replied, "So far I have decided on Severus Snape. I'm not sure who else I would trust with that angel."

Serenity burped and a trail of mashed peas made their way down her chin. Using the table, she grasped it with her chubby hands, pulling herself up before loudly banging her hands on the rim of the golden plate her grandfather's food was on. Several of professors giggled when the food ended up over Albus's robes as well as her own clothes, in another professor's goblet, those closest had it in their hair, and on the table itself.

Pointing to the mess around the table, Horace declared, "See what I mean? Who's going to have enough patience to deal with all of her … wonderful… messes?"

Albus nodded and picked Serenity up, raising her into the air to the full extent of his arms before lowering her back to his face to kiss her. She giggled the entire way up and down then clapped as she sat back in her grandfather's lap.

"I think we'll be able to manage. All of professors will be able to keep an eye on her during class."

* * *

1 ~ _Hypnos._

Greek God of Dreams.


	15. Dinner with Harry

Chapter 15: _Dinner with Harry_

A week later found Serenity Dumbledore sitting behind her desk in her late grandfather's office, rubbing her temples and vehemently swearing in Lunarian about St. Mungo Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Cradling her head in her hands, her swearing stopped as a defeated sigh escaped her lips. Swiveling her leather chair around, her gaze turned towards the Atlantic Ocean, roaring madly with passion, thus allowing her thoughts to dissipate. Her light blue eyes filled with lavender sparkles turned towards the grandfather clock on her left, reading six o'clock.

Standing up, she stretched her back and headed to a secret passage behind one of the bookcases to her bedroom. Serenity directed herself to her closet and began searching for an outfit for dinner. _'He should be here any minute now,' _she thought as she pulled on a dark blue skirt.

xXx

When the doorbell rang for the first time, Hotaru thought nothing of it, choosing to ignore the sound and continue reading on the history of Hogwarts. Upon the second doorbell ring, she assumed that someone had a package to deliver or something of that nature. Hearing the doorbell ring for the third time, Hotaru's forehead crinkled up into a frown. _'Sere-mama didn't mention anything about having visitors.'_

She sighed before slipping her bookmark into the textbook and standing up from the couch in the living room, heading towards the front door. Walking through two other rooms, she entered the foyer, and peeked through the peephole on her tiptoes. Unable to see who had rung the doorbell, she decided it would be best if she just opened the door. Opening one of the mahogany doors, she peeked out; her Prussian dark blue eyes landed on a black haired teen at least a good foot taller than her five-foot frame. Tilting her head to one side, she politely asked, "Hello, how may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Serenity Dumbledore," the young man stated nervously - then gulped in concern: "This is her address, right?"

Still confused as to why the young man was there, Hotaru nodded, opened the door further and gestured for the boy to enter. Sticking out her hand, she said, "Here, I'll take your coat, Mister. And please take off your shoes - we don't wear them inside."

Nodding in reply, the black haired young man gave her his black robe, revealing a nice light blue dress shirt and a pair of rustic looking slacks. He slipped off his shoes, and she managed to realize how uncomfortable he felt when she caught him fidgeting. After Hotaru hung his robe up, she stretched out her hand, "Hi, I'm Hotaru Dumbledore. It's nice to meet you…"

"Harry," he offered, emerald eyes gazing into Prussian blue orbs as he recalled the conversation he and Serenity had had about Hotaru. "Harry Potter."

Hotaru's face lit up in recognition and was eager to ask him about Sirius Black and the like, but before she could begin a decent conversation, her adopted mother swept down the staircase and greeted their guest. "Good Evening, Harry. How are you doing?"

Harry nodded towards Serenity and was about to respond when the white haired woman kissed him on either cheek before ushering him into the dining room, where a light blue haired woman was setting the table.

Just as he was about to offer to help, Hotaru had him seated and offered him a drink before cutting to the chase and asking him questions about Hogwarts. Serenity smiled before she left them, the blue haired woman following, as they were discussing in hushed voices.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I missed that. What did you ask?" Harry asked, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.

Hotaru politely smiled as she folded her pallid hands in her lap, "What's Hogwarts like? What house were you in? Who teaches there? What kind of classes do they offer? Is there a Divination class?"

Harry's face softened, turned his gaze away from the curious teen, as he thought back on his time at Hogwarts. "Hogwarts is an amazing school, I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I did."

"Did?" the violet haired girl softly asked, her voice seemed sad. "Do you not go there anymore?"

Harry shook his head causing his unruly locks to brush up against the top of his glasses. "I'm not returning there for my last year."

Hotaru's shoulders fell and her face froze before she inquired, "Well, what house were you in?"

"Gryffindor," he replied as he fidgeted slightly.

Before Hotaru got the chance to drill him for more information, Serenity returned carrying a tiny house elf. Several house elves followed her carrying in trays of food, the same light blue haired woman behind them alongside an auburn haired woman with emerald eyes.

"Hotaru," Serenity said, "I need you to put Tenshi in her seat, please."

The violet haired teen stood up and took Tenshi from Serenity's arms before placing her in a high-chair. Tenshi banged her hands happily against the plastic tray then giggled at Harry, who wore a bewildered look at the sight of house elves wearing muggle clothing. The rest of the house elves scurried about the table, placing the food in the middle of it, before clambering into their seats. Meanwhile Serenity had taken her seat at the head of the table with the other two women sitting on her right, directly across from Hotaru and Harry. The food was passed around the table until each had enough on their plates and they said grace before digging in.

Harry felt out of place with the house elves and eating beside people he truly did not know that well. During their conversations - which jumped from topic to topic - he was amused by Hotaru's interest and enthusiasm for Hogwarts. He found himself retelling his most fond memories of the school. As dinner progressed into dessert, the house elves ushered themselves into the kitchen to clean the pots and pans and dishes. Meanwhile, Harry, Hotaru, Serenity, Amairé - the light blue haired woman, he had discovered - along with Sakura - the auburn haired woman - moved into the living room to continue their discussion.

The fire was inviting, creating a warm, comforting setting that made him feel as if this was his real home. Harry found himself stumbling into the room as Hotaru latched onto his arm, directing him to the fireplace and gently pushing him onto to the crimson leather couch.

"Did you like dinner?" she asked, snapping him from his stupor and he nodded in a distracted manner, remembering that he needed to talk to Serenity about the necklace. She then began in on the classes offered at Hogwarts; which one was his favorite, what was his least favorite, what was required, and such. As Harry explained the classes and the teachers to Hotaru, he missed the glance that Serenity threw at Sakura.

Standing up, Sakura abruptly excused herself. As Harry's head whipped around to catch a glimpse of the auburn haired chef, he noted that she looked at him with distraught and melancholic emerald eyes. Hotaru bid Sakura, or rather 'Auntie Kura,' goodnight and stopped inquiring about Hogwarts.

A pregnant silence consumed the room after Sakura left as Harry looked at the three women still sitting in the room. After clearing his throat, Harry asked, "Is she alright?"

Serenity and Amairé smiled at him, while the former responded: "Yes, Harry, she'll be alright. She's just adjusting to England… and everything else."

Hotaru piped up with more questions about Hogwarts for Harry - he was surprised to hear she knew about the Chamber of Secrets - as Serenity quietly discussed matters with Amairé in a language Harry didn't recognize. When he inquired about, the violet-haired teen grinned, "Sere-mama and Auntie Mai went to a School for Magical Beings in Japan when they were kids. I don't remember the name, but if you'd like, I'll ask Sere-mama about it."

When Lilith, the house elf, came into the living room with four cups of tea, Harry politely declined but Hotaru picked up a cup and mixed another liquid with it before taking a deep sip. Smiling at the black haired boy next to her, she managed to mumble out a coherent "Good night, 'Arry," before resting her head against his broad shoulder, giving way to a dreamless sleep potion.

Serenity gave a curt nod to Amairé as she took her cup of tea. Amairé smiled at her friend's adopted daughter, who had clearly finished her tea because she was slumped against Harry, snoring lightly. The blue haired woman stood up from the Victorian-styled armchair to scoop up the slumbering teen and quietly left the room.

Harry snuck a glance outside of the windows behind him, watching the last fading rays of the sun sinking behind the mountains. The white haired woman smiled at him as he turned around, about to inquire as to why Hotaru had fallen asleep.

"She hasn't been able to sleep on her own," Serenity answered the unasked question. "The poor girl has been having vivid nightmares as of late, so she has been taking the potion with tea before bed."

The black haired teen nodded before he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a gold chain with a heart pendant on the end of it. Rubbing his thumb up against the heart, he showed it to his former mentor's granddaughter. "I'm not sure where to find the other one. Um, I mean the actual one."

Pulling out the note from R.A.B., Serenity skimmed it and laughed. "Harry, it has already been destroyed. That's what the note says. Why do you want to find the original?"

Harry shrugged nonchalantly and she somehow understood as she said, "You want to make sure there is no horcrux inside."

Handing the note and necklace back to him, she had the twinkling eyes that mirrored her grandfather's. Harry blinked back tears at the thought of the former Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"I can do some research, but I believe that Regulus did destroy the horcrux. I'm more curious as to how he found about it. Regulus is far too sneaky for his own good."

He frowned as he thought about what she had told him: "Who is Regulus?"

A round of giggles escaped the white haired woman as she looked at him with an amused face before sipping her tea. "I suppose Sirius never mentioned his younger brother? Shame. Regulus was one… no, two years apart from Sirius."

Her face turned pensive as she thought back to her past, but sighed and continued, "Regulus was loved best by his mother… and in the end, became a Death Eater. He didn't realize what Tom Riddle, I mean, Lord Voldemort's actual motives were… when he did, Regulus set himself against Voldemort and went to destroy him. I know he passed away awhile ago, but I don't know how or why. My bet is that Voldemort had ordered Regulus to be killed when he found out the truth."

Harry nodded and then asked to be shown to the door where Serenity apologized for bringing up the past, but Harry shrugged it off. As she kissed his cheek and bid him farewell, he wondered how she had known Regulus.


	16. Baby Duties

Chapter 16: _Baby Duties_

After the Welcoming Feast, Albus Dumbledore was beginning to question whether or not he had made the right decision about giving his granddaughter to a bunch of teenagers. Of course, the little white haired cherub had fallen asleep soundly in his arms while waiting for the Heads of the Houses and the chosen students. He sighed as he recalled Minerva informing him that Lily Evans would be staying at home to take care of her own eight-month-old baby; in place of Lily, James had been substituted. _'At least it wasn't Sirius and James,'_ he thought,_ 'those two would have turned my sweet angel into a prank-loving-troublemaker.'_

When the doors to his office opened, Minerva McGonagall - Head of Gryffindor - swept in, followed by Remus Lupin and James Potter. Horace Slughorn - Head of Slytherin - came in with his chosen students of Narcissa Black and Severus Snape quickly came in behind Minerva. They were followed closely by Filius Flitwick - Head of Ravenclaw - with Chie Mizuno and Amos Diggory and finally, Pomona Sprout - Head of Hufflepuff - with her two students, Andromeda Black and Edgar Bones. [1] As they all got comfortable in seats around his desk, Serenity made it known that she was awake by burping on the white cloth the Headmaster wore on his shoulder before her stomach rumbled in reply. All eyes shifted to the little girl, whose pink cheeks brightly contrasted her pale skin, then to the Headmaster.

"Have you all been informed by your Head of House why you are here?" Albus Dumbledore questioned the students, all of whom nodded in response. Relaxing back into the chair, his granddaughter clutched his beard with a chubby hand, as if she understood that she would be handed over to these eight students.

"This is my granddaughter, Serenity, for those of you who are not yet acquainted with her," his eyes rested on James Potter, who looked down at his boots in remembrance of the incident, "you will be caring for her until your O.W.L. or N.E.W.T. exams at the end of year. Are there any questions?"

Andromeda Black, a seventh year Hufflepuff with soft black hair raised her hand. When called upon, she asked, "Does she have a crib, diapers and everything that we will need to take care of her?"

Albus Dumbledore nodded: "Yes, Miss Black, everything is in my office and it will be delivered to your room when you are to take care of her. Right now Serenity is sick; we haven't discovered what the cause is, so she will not be up to her usual wanderings. I warn you that she has begun to discover the art of crawling, but has yet to speak actual words."

The youngest of the group was Chie Mizuno, whose hand shot into the air, "How are you planning to split up the duties, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Every two weeks you will rotate who has parental duties of her; although if you need help, the others in this group are allowed to help. Every weekend, I will expect her to be returned to me, for personal reasons. I would prefer it if you do not let her out of your sight when she is better… Serenity has a tendency to wander off on her own," the Headmaster told the group, his blue eyes twinkling down at the baby. "As for the order of who will watch her… I think I will let her decide that after she is better. Is there anyone willing to take her first?"

All the students exchanged glances. When no one raised their hands, Serenity burped again, her tired soft blue eyes landed on the Slytherin male, who froze at the innocent glance. He slowly raised his hand and he locked gazes with the Headmaster: "I will, Professor."

James Potter looked at Severus as if he had grown another head while Narcissa Black sneered at him. Albus Dumbledore stood up from his desk, swept around it to the black haired teen, with his granddaughter still intently staring at Severus. When the white haired cherub had released her vice-grip on her grandfather and was finally placed in Severus's arms, his obsidian eyes looked down at her, eyes mixed with curiosity and a fear of hurting her. Serenity adjusted quickly after squirming for a moment, seeing as she rested her head against his left shoulder, tiny hands clutching onto the outside of his robes, her gaze then shifted to staring innocently as Narcissa. The youngest Black daughter moved closer to the baby girl, touched Serenity's cheek gently, their eyes locked on the other's actions while the rest watched on. She desperately wanted to sneer at the baby when Serenity then burped on her hand.

Of course, her Head of House, the Headmaster, and others gathered thought it was amusing, trying to hide their chuckling and giggling, but to no avail. Narcissa whined, "That's gross!" before swiping her hand clean with a flick of her wand.

The little cherub turned her head away from the blonde haired witch, and then promptly fell asleep, feeling secure in Severus's arms. Albus's blue eyes twinkled as he watched his granddaughter grow fond of the anti-social Slytherin.

As soon as the students were dismissed, Narcissa Black pointed her manicured nail at Severus Snape, blue eyes narrowed at the white haired girl, "I'm not taking care of the brat. This is only for my resume to look better than the others. Is that clear, Snape?"

Severus wore a stolid mask with only a sharp nod of his head as his answer. Narcissa then immediately swept down to the dungeons before another word could be spoken. Remus stretched out his arm as Severus turned to go, "Severus, are you sure you won't need -"

"I'll be fine, Lupin," the thin Slytherin student snapped, causing Remus to lower his arm.

James pushed his round glasses up his nose before he nudged Remus gently. "Hey Moony, c'mon, let's head back to the Commons."

The lanky Gryffindor nodded numbly as he thought aloud, "Maybe we can change how long Severus has her to help ease up on his load."

The black haired teen chuckled as he swung an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Always being so nice to him, aren't you, Moony?"

Remus's head snapped up at James as he realized he had said that aloud. A blush crossed his cheeks as he mumbled in reply, "It won't be fair for Severus to have Serenity for four weeks without Narcissa helping him."

* * *

1 ~ _Chie Mizuno and Edgar Bones._

I own these two characters.


	17. Many Familiars of Serenity Dumbledore

Chapter 17: _The Many Familiars of Serenity Dumbledore_

When Harry sent a thank-you note to Serenity the following morning, the white haired granddaughter of his former mentor had sent a reply stating that he was welcome anytime at Dumbledore Manor. He asked if it would be alright if he came later that day, and his only reply was a smiling bunny. Shaking his head, he thought back to the four women he had met last night. Why had the brunette woman left so abruptly? The thought had crossed his mind before he shoved the thought away and went about Grimmauld Place in search of books about horcruxes.

xXx

Harry traveled by the Floo Network [1] this time and was greeted by the blue haired woman who had carried Hotaru off to bed last night, offering him a cup of blueberry tea, as he scrounged his mind trying to recall her name. As she ushered him in, she told him that Serenity and Hotaru were in the drawing room - the fifth room on the left - and he caught her whisper, "Amairé," before smiling at him and pointing him in the direction of Serenity. He slipped off his shoes and carefully climbed the stairs as quietly as possible, heading in the direction of the drawing room.

As he drew closer to the room, he heard instruments playing an enchanting melody that was just as loving as it was powerful. Cracking the door open, Harry found himself in a bright room with all the curtains pulled back, noting that Serenity and Hotaru were not alone. There was a seated, fair-haired man playing a cello, an aquamarine haired woman playing a violin, a brown haired man playing drums, a white haired man standing behind a set of keyboards, and a black haired man strumming an acoustic guitar. He quietly closed the door and sat down on a cream colored chair off to the side, listening to the song they were playing. Hotaru had her back towards him and she was playing a flute while Serenity sang.

_"Turn around and smell what you don't see… close your eyes; it is so clear… here's the mirror, behind there is a screen… on both ways you can get in… don't think twice before you listen to your heart… follow the trace for a new start… what you need and everything you'll feel… is just a question of the deal…"_

Serenity's voice became stronger and Harry found it hard to hold back his tears at the words: _"In the eye of storm you'll see a lonely dove… the experience of survival is the key… to the gravity of love."_

The aquamarine haired woman stopped playing her violin, softly whispering, _"The path of excess leads to the tower of Wisdom…"_

The same words were echoed by the black haired guitarist moments later in a voice just as soft as hers: _"The path of excess leads to the tower of Wisdom…"_

_"Try to think about it… that's the chance to live your life and discover… what it is, what's the gravity of love," _Serenity's voice was once again packed with overwhelming emotions that the room greedily consumed.

With some prodding from Serenity, Harry listened as Hotaru finished as the song, _"Look around just people, can you hear their voice… find the one who'll guide you to the limits of your choice… but if you're in the eye of storm… just think of the lonely dove… the experience of survival is the key… to the gravity of love." _[2]

As the song came to an end, Harry cleared his throat while clapping, instantly gaining the attention of all in the room. Hotaru's normally pallid complexion turned a soft pink that Harry believed to make her even prettier than before. Serenity smiled at the black haired teen, then greeted him before she introduced the people in the room.

"The cellist is Skye Ten'ou - a Japanese Auror, her wife, Izumi Kai'ou, is a violinist, who is also an Auror. Beside them are the three Hoshi brothers, Doki, Chisei, and Chiyu. Doki is the guitarist, Chisei is the drummer, and Chiyu is the keyboardist." [3]

Harry nodded politely to them before the five shuffled out of the room, each kissing or hugging Serenity and Hotaru as they left. Before the door closed behind them, Serenity called out: "Same time next week!"

Hotaru was busy putting the instruments away when Harry showed Serenity the books he had found containing information - despite it being fairly diluted - about horcruxes. A melancholic look crossed the white haired woman's face, but she gracefully accepted the books and promised to look over their contents for validity. Hotaru quickly caught sight of the look on her Sere-mama's face, quickly put a bright face on as she proceeded to drag Harry away to show him around Dumbledore Manor.

Serenity was grateful for Hotaru distracting Harry as she gazed out to roaring tides of the ocean below the manor, thoughts revolving around the necklace and the note that the seventeen-year-old boy had shown her the previous night. Sweeping out of the drawing room, she headed towards her bedroom, where she rummaged around her jewelry box for a heart shaped necklace with an 'S' engraved upon the top. Upon finding it, she ran her thumb across it before opening the pendant. Inside was a picture of the Black brothers - Sirius and Regulus - both were smiling at the photographer after they had made a series of silly faces. A lone tear trekked its way down her cheek.

Closing the heart-shaped locket, she re-locked her jewelry box before heading towards the far end of the manor, where she kept all sorts of familiars. _'But they aren't mine… they belong to the Senshi. I still don't know why I have all of them… convenience of having room to house them?'_

xXx

Hotaru eagerly pointed out all of the familiars her adopted mother had to Harry, whose jaw hung open in utter awe of the creatures. She had already shown him the area were they kept the bird species: a rare Fire Phoenix by the name of Miko, whose feathers were vivid shades of red; two jet-black Ravens named Phobos and Deimos, a Great Gray owl named Shinpi, a pure white dove named Hime, a black bat named Chiyu, a brown and black Nighthawk named Karasu, a red-and-violet butterfly named Chou, and Hotaru's own familiar, Hades, an onyx colored Futs-Lung Dragon, whom Harry had already met. [4]

They were currently inside the room designated for larger animals, such as Kaze, a golden Pharaoh hound, and Kuma, a brown bear cub. Hotaru was petting a white and black tiger named Koneko, while introducing the other familiars to her new-found-friend: "Ginga is the golden jaguar; Yuki is the Snow Leopard chasing Aijin, the Egyptian Mau cat. The coyote who is hiding behind the food crates is Sakura. I haven't seen Kaminari or Chishiki lately; they're Auntie Kura and Auntie Mai's familiars. Kaminari is a brown horse while Chishiki is an arctic fox." [5]

"These are all Serenity's familiars?" he asked the violet haired girl beside him, emeralds orbs wide with wonder at a black panther named Kurchyou. [6]

Hotaru was about to tell him the truth - that they were also the familiars of her friends - but thought better of it as she caught sight of her adopted mother with a velvet black box in her hands. Harry jumped, spinning around on his heel, wand in hand and pointed it at Serenity as the white haired woman shook her head, replying, "They're not my familiars, Harry. Lunch is ready."

Breathing deeply, Harry lowered his wand, then inquired, "If they aren't yours, whose are they? And where's your familiar, Serenity?"

Before Serenity could answer his questions, Hotaru pulled away from the white-and-black tiger, protesting in a whiny voice to Serenity, "But I didn't get to show Harry-chan the familiars in the lake, Sere-mama! I really wanted him to meet Umi, Athena, Iruka, Lethe and Kioku!" [7]

The white haired woman smiled, kissed Hotaru on her forehead, whispering in the teen's ear, "You can show him after lunch, dear."

The violet haired seventeen-year-old sighed her shoulder slumped in defeated, before asking what was for lunch. Serenity smiled and ushered the two out of room, eyes gazing distantly at the animals before she followed them.

xXx

Shortly after lunch, Serenity gathered a bunch of paperwork then bid her farewells to Sakura, Amairé, Harry and Hotaru before excusing herself and heading off to the Ministry of Magic via the Floo Network. Upon arrival, she landed with an ungraceful plop inside one of the many fireplaces, complaining about traveling through the Floo Network. Hauling herself to her feet, she dusted off her navy robes and began searching for the right department.

Serenity found herself in a waiting line, mentally cursing her luck, and was seen in only after she complained to someone higher up in the chain-of-command. As she entered the room, she was greeted by the Minister of Magic himself, Rufus Scrimgeour, who had his chest puffed out in a proud manner and his red-haired secretary, Percy Weasley.

Her orbs of light blue-lavender along with her pursed lips expressed her blunt disdain as Rufus offered her a seat and a cup of tea. Accepting the cup of tea hesitantly, she gazed into the russet liquid mentally pondering if it had been laced with Veritaserum, before raising her narrowed eyes at the Minister. "I know you did not come down from your throne for a cup of tea, Mr. Scrimgeour. What do you want?"

The auburn haired man chuckled as he sat behind down his desk and shooed Percy out of the office. Leaning forward, a smirk still graced his face causing Serenity to warily wonder if he had ulterior motives for becoming Minister of Magic.

"Ah, Ms. Dumbledore, straight to the point." He waved a hand over his tea, cooling it slightly, then responded, carefully picking out his words as if he was picking them out of a cup of alphabet soup, "Now that your grandfather has… passed away… I am only inquiring about Mr. Potter -"

Serenity interrupted his speech, intuitively knowing where this was going: "You can stop beating around the bush, Scrimgeour. I know very well what you seek."

Gazing down at the cup in her hands, the Minister waited patiently for her to continue. "I will not persuade Mr. Harry Potter to add support to your position as Minister of Magic by having him release a press statement. Especially seeing as your predecessor had a … severe deficiency of succeeding in rallying other magical beings to support his case. What makes you think I have any faith in his successor?"

Raising her head, she cocked her head towards the right, her eyes met his gaze dead on and she saw rage behind the frigid eyes of the Minister of Magic. She took a sip of tea to hide the smirk that had crept onto her face. _'Rufus - zero, Serenity - one. A shock to his system and a new bruise to his rapidly expanding egotistical campaign.'_

Placing the tea cup on his desk, Serenity cast an enigmatic glance at the man old enough to be her father. She pulled out the papers from inside her robe, pressed out the creases with her glove-covered hands, and presented them to the Minister.

Clearing her throat, Serenity explained what the documents were for as she gestured to them: "I only came to have the Ministry informed that I now own and reside in Dumbledore Manor. Unfortunately, I will also take on the title of Lady Dumbledore, but that is not to be used unless I specifically require it. Please sign on the three lines with X's in front of them so I can be on my way; I have a list of accumulating things to do before the day is done, Mr. Scrimgeour, you can understand being the busy man that you are."

Rufus sneered somewhat at the papers as he skimmed their contents, which simply stated that Dumbledore Manor and all possessions of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore were to be turned over to his granddaughter, Serenity Kichou Tenshi Himitsu Dumbledore. Pulling out his quill, he signed the three lines before he shoved them to the edge of the mahogany desk; glare still intact at Lady Serenity Dumbledore.

Serenity stood from the chair she had been seated in, slightly leaning forward, she lowered her voice to that of the gentle chime of bells, "If I were you, I would consider looking into the laws regarding hybrid magical creatures, Mr. Scrimgeour. I can only advocate that some of the legislation… particular those regarding the rights of werewolves… and possibly half-giants… should be -hmm- adapted, to those whose interests you wish to gain alliances with."

As she retrieved the signed documents, light blue eyes mixed with lavender gazed down at him in an indescribable manner. Her words hung in the air as the door shut behind her:

"It was nice talking to you, Rufus."

* * *

1 ~ A system connecting fireplaces, enabling witches and wizards to visit each other; copyright of Harry Potter Books.

2 ~ _Gravity of Love_ Lyrics by Enigma.

3 ~ They are characters from Sailor Moon; I'll give you a hint: 'Hoshi' is Japanese for 'Star,' 'Doki' means 'fighter,' Chisei means 'knowledge,' and 'Chiyu' means 'healer'. If that isn't a big enough hint, then I don't know what is.

4 ~ Fire Phoenix - Miko; Great Gray owl - Shinpi; Dove - Hime; Bat - Chiyu; Nighthawk - Karasu; Butterfly - Chou; Hades - Futs-Lung Dragon: are all property of me, the authoress.

5 ~ Tiger - Koneko; Ginga - jaguar; Yuki - Snow Leopard; Aijin - Egyptian Mau cat; Coyote - Sakura; Kaminari - brown horse; Chishiki - arctic fox are all property of me, the authoress.

6 ~ Black panther - Kurchyou is property of me, the authoress.

7 ~ Umi, Athena, Iruka, Lethe and Kioku are all property of me, the authoress.


	18. Hating James Potter

Chapter 18: _Hating James Potter_

Two months into the school year found James Potter and Remus Lupin on "baby duties", as their friend Sirius Black dubbed them. They were two of eight students that were taking care of a now-eleven-month-old baby - Serenity Dumbledore, their Headmaster's granddaughter - who was just as ambitious crawling as her attempts at walking.

Currently, James, Remus, Sirius, and another one of their friends, Peter Pettigrew, were in Potions class, making a Memory potion. When they were making potions, they - the entire class - tried their very best to be cautious of the white haired little girl. Only they were less careful than normal on _that_ day.

xXx

"**HOW** could you be so **IMPRUDENT**? It shouldn't be that hard to watch over Serenity while she was in a high-stool!" shouted their Head of House and Transfiguration Teacher, Professor Minerva McGonagall, an hour after what had become known as _**the incident**_ had happened. Her hands were on either of her hips as her chocolate eyes were narrowed at each of them.

Neither James nor Remus got the chance to respond, for the Headmaster barged into the hospital wing with Professor Horace Slughorn, their Potions teacher, hot on his heals. The white haired Serenity was cradled in her grandfather's arms, fast asleep with soft snores, both of her chubby hands wrapped in several layers of gauze. James looked away in shame from his stiff sitting position on a hospital bed while Remus's gaze turned towards the floor when he saw the little girl's hands.

Once all three professors had taken a seat, Professor McGonagall demanded what had gone wrong in Potions class. Before James - whose entire chest was wrapped in white strips - could explain, Remus jumped in: "You see Professor McGonagall, we were working in pairs to make the Memory potion [1]…"

xXx

_Remus was jotting down notes for James of how to cut certain ingredients while James was busy cleaning out his cauldron; his procrastination and forgetfulness had lead him to dismiss cleaning it after their last Potions class. The half-blooded werewolf finished scribbling and turned to look at his charge, Serenity, who was happily clapping and giggling at something behind him. Shifting his vision somewhat, Remus rolled his golden eyes at the childish faces his close friend Sirius Black was making. _

_He caught a pair of onyx orbs disdainfully glaring at his friends' behavior, but managed to see the hint of hidden worry Severus Snape had buried underneath them. Remus smiled down at the now fidgeting little girl. She was clearly unhappy with her seating assignment. 'The high-stool mustn't be all that comfortable,' he mused. Squatting beside her, he warily eyed her and softly asked, "Will you be good if I let you sit in my seat?"_

_A beaming smile was his reward as she trusted her chubby arms into the air, demanding to be taken out. He chuckled at her behavior and gently pulled her out of the high-stool, then situated her on his left hip, careful of how to support her back and head. Serenity hummed happily in his arms as she clutched onto his tattered school robes, watching all of the students with her wide two-toned eyes. Her head lashed back and forth as her attention span quickly switched from the activities of each student._

_Once James had finally started a fire softly burning underneath the cauldron, Remus handed the white haired cherub to his black haired friend, who was happy to relieve Remus of "baby duties". Serenity's attention shifted to James's face, immediately tried to grab his round glasses, but James tilted his head away slightly, thus beginning another keep-away session. _

_Remus headed over to collect the ingredients for the Memory Potion and accidentally bumped into a not-so-grumpy Severus. The black haired Potions expert lowered his voice to the extent that if Remus didn't have the extremely keen hearing he had, he wouldn't have heard it: "Has she started walking yet?"_

_The surprised werewolf jumped at the deep rumbling of Severus' voice. Shaking his head, his golden eyes were still wide that Sirius and James's bane of existence had actually spoken to him - of his own free will. Remus fugitively leaned across to grab a jar of black beetle eyes, he murmured, "No. Serenity can transport herself… erm, transporting is like apparation for us, only she doesn't need to focus.. She tends to do that when she wants attention."_

_Cast a glance at James, he lowered his head somewhat and finished his train of thought: "She usually ends up outside… by Hagrid's hut. Otherwise she's in Professor Dumbledore's room."_

_The black haired teen gave a short nod of his head to acknowledge what he had heard then turned away with the gathered ingredients. Remus heard a growl in the back of Severus's throat and turned his attention back to James and Serenity. _

_Everything began to slow down to the point Remus thought he was watching a horror movie. Severus roughly shoved his ingredients onto the nearest desk. James bent down to grab something from the floor. Professor Slughorn was gently berating a student in the front of the room for use of the wrong ingredient. Remus found himself frozen to the floor and his voice mute as he tried to cry out a warning to James._

_Serenity was inching closer and closer to the hot cauldron on the desk. She was leaning over the desk as far as possible; which worried him even more. Reaching out with both of her hands, she used the rim of cauldron to scoot closer to see the boiling water inside. Her hands immediately let go of the rim, causing the cauldron to tip forward and dump its hot contents onto the clueless James._

_James yelped out in back as the hot water, mixed with the base for the potion, thoroughly soaked his robes as Serenity burst out into an unstoppable flood of tears and wails at the pain in her hands._

_Remus rushed from his stupor, leaving the black beetle eyes behind, his attention solely focused around on making sure Serenity and James were alright. Severus managed to snatch the wailing little cherub before she could fall to the floor or hit the still searing hot cauldron. Professor Slughorn was in hysterics. Sirius rushed over to check on James and drag the Gryffindor to the hospital wing. _

_Remus quickly cast a cooling charm before he caught the cauldron before the rest of the water spilled out. His attention shifted to Severus, who was trying to calm down Serenity. Professor Slughorn suddenly snapped out of his hysterical reverie to order another student to clean up the mess. He then told Severus to have the class clean up the room, as he plucked the white haired granddaughter of his boss from Severus's arms, rushing out of the room, and going in the opposite direction of the hospital wing; heading directly to Albus Dumbledore._

xXx

Minerva rubbed her temples, sighing with relief that no one else was hurt. She was about to berate her two Gryffindor students for not watching over Serenity, but was interrupted by a happy screech from the little girl. All eyes flew to her alit face, wondering why she had gotten up so suddenly. She transported herself into James's lap and was leaning over to the nightstand, where his round glasses lay forgotten beside a glass of water. Before anyone could react, her gauze-covered hand smashed the glasses with one loud **smack**. James was the one to break the silence as he stared at his ruined glasses. Shaking his head, he grumbled, "I may have deserved that, missy, but just how do you plan on fixing them?"

Serenity turned her two-toned eyes back to the injured black haired teen, cocking her head to one side innocently. She then brought a hand up to James's face, accidentally hitting him harder than intended. She then began giggling, making the group relax from their rigid stances.

"Good thing Ms. Evans will be back by the next time you two will have "baby duties" over Serenity."

* * *

1 ~ Memory Potion is copyright of J.K. Rowling.


	19. Letters and Secrets

Chapter 19: _Letters & Secrets_

Saturdays were the only days Serenity ever slept in; it was a habit she had kept since her teens, however she wasn't allowed that luxury this Saturday.

The pitch black sky was filled with little twinkling stars throughout it. Half of the world was still tucked in the warmth of their beds when she was disturbed from her sleep by the sharp _**tap, tap, tap **_upon glass. Flipping over to face away from the soft rays of the moon pouring in from the windows, her attempts to block out the noise were futile. Groaning mentally, she realized there was no point in pretending to sleep; the adamant creature was obviously trying to earn her attention.

With a sudden jerk, Serenity ended up on her wooden floor, back splayed against the cold, hard ground still cocooned in her bundle of sheets, comforter, blankets and pajamas. _'This is going to be a very, very bad day…'_ she grumbled to herself.

She moaned softly at the pain in her lower back from the collision with the floor and berated herself for not putting heat charms on the bed. _'It's been so long since I have been the Wizarding realm…'_ she thought bitterly. However, her thoughts were disrupted by the repetitious tapping against her bedroom window. Wordlessly and wandlessly, Serenity opened the windows, allowing the winged creature into her bedroom.

Her light blue-lavender eyes watched as the bird flew into her bedroom, the creature landing on the stand that Fawkes usually perched on. As the bird settled on the stand, Serenity moved closer, tugging on her blue comforter around her frigid frame in an attempt to keep warm.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" she murmured as she studied the onyx colored features and crimson eyes. "You're a Kite. But who is your owner?"

As Serenity's eyes landed on the silver band around the Kite's left leg, she noticed _'Saoirse Snape'_ engraved on it. Rolling her eyes, the irony registered in her head of the name. Saoirse was the Celtic word for freedom. [1] The Kite's right leg thrust forward to give Serenity the parchment attached.

"Well, at least I know who your owner is, Saoirse. That old fart wants a favor, doesn't he?"

Saoirse let out a sharp hoot, her crimson orbs narrowing at her owner being called an 'old fart', before pulling her right leg away from Serenity. The white haired woman went to untie it and was surprised when the bird wouldn't give her the message. She sighed as her eyes warily landed on the parchment before she glared down the Kite, whose crimson gaze was narrowed at her.

"Alright, I give up," Serenity said aloud as her gaze was still locked with Saoirse's and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff of irritation, "you tell me what the hell Severus wants. It would be much easier, don't you agree?"

As Saoirse seemed to roll her eyes at the young woman before she trust her leg out again. Serenity slowly reached to untie the parchment before placing it on the desk. In response, she received another sharp hoot. Staring down at the Kite, she mumbled, "You're not leaving until you get a reply, hmm?"

Saoirse's response was only an annoyed trill before she nipped at Serenity's hand. The white haired woman let out a deep sigh filled with remorse of some kind before she finally ripped open the letter. Her eyes gazed over what had been quickly scrawled onto the parchment before she raised a slender eyebrow. She unconsciously hummed to herself as she petted Saoirse's black ruffled feathers.

Fingering the letter, she left it on the desk before pulling out some treats for Saoirse. Putting them in the bowel that Fawkes usually used, she placed them in front of the Kite who was apparently confused by Serenity's kindness, but ate the treats anyway. Meanwhile, Serenity ungraciously plopped down into a leather chair and sighed, thoughts running at the speed of light in her head as she weighed the pros and cons of the situation.

Picking up the letter again, she re-read it to make sure was reading its contents correctly before she mused aloud: "It's not like I have anything better to do… besides, I'd feel guilty if I didn't help this poor Malfoy boy."

Saoirse gave her a trill, this time a pleasant one, before softly cooing at Serenity. The white haired woman rubbed her temples before picking up a piece of parchment, quickly scribbling down her reply to Severus:

_Wevvie!_

_I see how it is! I haven't seen you for nineteen years, and the moment I get back and settled in again, you demand help. Pfft, and just why should I help you? What - you know, never mind. I don't need to know. You're just laying on the guilt; just like Grandpa used to. Meanie._

_Alright, your ruddy bird (I'm kidding! Saoirse is a gorgeous bird, and very stubborn and determined for a Kite… reminds me of a certain someone.) has conned me into helping you and the brat. I have several conditions._

_First, warn the brat that I will not tolerate rudeness, snootiness, prejudices, demands of special-treatment, etc. in my house. Second, please give him a glamour charm for our meetings, otherwise I will reprimand him and not offer my aide. Third, tell him that I am three-fourths blood witch and if he is going to give me pureblood crap, I will kick him out. Fourth, I have an adopted daughter - he is **not** to fill her head with pureblood bogus, **not** be condescending towards her, and **not** give her a hard time while he is around._

_Before I agree, I also want to know a couple of things:_  
_a) what should I know about Mr. Harold James Potter (**not** your prejudices against him, Severus Tobias Snape, but what he needs help in)_  
_b) what should I know about Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy_  
_c) how you are doing (did you ever get married?)_  
_d) What kind of former Defense teachers have the Hogwarts students had in the past?_

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Serenity_

Folding the parchment up, she tied it to Saoirse's leg before ushering the bird to her still-open window. Petting the black Kite once more, Saoirse flew back into the night sky with news for her owner, leaving Serenity staring at the luminous moon, wondering about Severus Snape and his request.

xXx

Six hours after Serenity had been disturbed from her sleep, Amairé was downstairs perched on the edge of a stool. She was so engrossed in reading a book on Dark hexes that involved the use of plants that she didn't hear Lila swearing in Japanese in the kitchen nor Hotaru, as she clambered down the staircase to answer the doorbell and usher in five of her friends. Hotaru and the five teenage girls congregated around the dining room table, eagerly waiting for breakfast. Amairé was brought out of her trance when the auburn haired chef shoved a bowl of apple-cinnamon oatmeal on top of her book.

"Ames, don't worry about my problem, alright?" Lila told the blue haired woman softly. "I've lived with it for this long… I think I can manage."

Amairé carefully watched her auburn haired friend as she continued to dish out breakfast for the six teens, each one eagerly devouring the meal while chatting amongst themselves. She had caught the remorseful, yet longing, look in the emerald eyes of Lila. With a dejected sigh, she cast a glance at the clock, quickly finished her oatmeal before pushing the stool away from the countertop and snapped her book shut.

Walking up the staircase, she bumped into a haggard looking Serenity, who had the beginnings of black circles under her light blue-lavender eyes. A white bathrobe gracefully fell off her left shoulder and wasn't even tied in the middle, showing off her rumpled pajamas. Frowning, Amairé immediately badgered the poor woman for answers.

In response, Serenity shook her head in defeat and mumbled something that sounded like, "I'm taking on another student." before the white haired woman glided down the stairs and to the breakfast table.

Brushing her blue looks out of her face, Amairé continued her journey back to her bedroom before realizing she only had fifteen minutes to get ready and be at Hogwarts for her interview. Letting out a shriek of dismay, she haphazardly changed into black slacks, a light blue dress shirt, and dark blue outer robes. Before disapparating, she grabbed her resume, glasses and wand.

xXx

An hour after Amairé had left, Harry had come over for training and help in Defense. Serenity asked him about his former teachers, and groaned when she heard about Quirrell, Dolores Umbridge, Barty Crouch and Gilderoy Lockheart. She shook her head after Harry told her what her grandfather had taught him outside of class.

Her shoulders slumped in a dejected manner and she whined to herself, "He could have at least taught you the basics! That baka…" _"… That idiot/stupid…"_

Upon reaching the training room, she gestured for him to sit down on the matted floor while she skimmed the disillusioned shelf of books. Upon finding the book, she yanked it off, searching for a way to start of Harry's training without overloading his seventeen-year-old mind and magic core.

Harry intently watched the white haired granddaughter of his former mentor pacing back and forth reading a tattered book whose frayed ends were in desperate need of repair. She smacked the loose leather cover shut and wandlessly and wordlessly, sent the book back to its place on the shelf. His emerald eyes widened - Albus Dumbledore had never shown him wandless magic. She sat in front of him on her calves, a small smile on her face.

"I will explain the first method of fighting I will be teaching you, Harry. Only ask questions at the end, alright?"

With a nod, Serenity shifted her focus to the basics of using words as spells: "Instead of relying on your magic core, you will be using the power of your words to attack opponents. Once you have mastered the three levels of word casting, I will instruct you on controlling your ability to become more habitual."

Taking a deep breath, she plundered forward in fighting with words instead of spells.

"In word casting, everyone fights in pairs. The pair consists of a fighter unit and a sacrifice. During battle, the sacrifice endures the damage inflicted upon their fighter unit. The way to ensure as much damage as possible is inflicted is for the fighting unit of the other pair to cast a restriction. Restrictions are generally placed on the wrists. A restriction on the neck is also called a constriction, which completely immobilizes one or both of the pair. They limit the mobility of the fighter unit and the sacrifice when placed on the pair. The pair can be seen as master and servant; the fighter unit as the servant and the master as the sacrifice. However, all that aside, you need to remember this if nothing else: when the sacrifice is destroyed, its remaining fighter unit has lost." [2]

Harry shuddered at the thought of a sacrifice being destroyed. His head snapped up again when he felt a brush of liquid ice trickle down his back. Serenity giggled and tried to cover her laughter with her hand, but failed miserably. "Don't worry, Harry, I'm just trying to figure out if you are more suited to be a fighter unit or a sacrifice. It seems you are much like Hotaru and myself. We three are gifted with being suitable for both areas. However, I am a dominant fighter unit, whereas you are a submissive sacrifice." [3]

Smiling, she continued: "The end result means you and I would be suitable for being a pair of word casters."

Harry nodded reluctantly; still not quite sure of what Serenity was talking about.

"Moving on, the most difficult part of this fighting style is choosing your attacks. There are spells for binding, spells of attack, spells that shift the environment, for example the weather, and even spells that banish opponents. Apply physical violence… or destroy the psyche." [4]

Rubbing her chin, Serenity turned her gaze up towards the double-paned glass spherical dome. Returning her distant stare to his, she finished, "The last couple of things you need to know… is finding if there is another fighter unit in your area through an aura reading by raising or lowering certain shields. And finally, please note that the more syllables you use in your words, the harder the spells penetrate one's defenses. Be sure to remember that thoughts are energy, words are spells." [5]

To say Harry was surprised, shocked, and taken aback was just the descriptions of his apparent confusion. He had never heard of casting words as a form of fighting. Balling his fists, he was determined to learn this way of fighting; especially if it gave him even the slightest bit of an advantage over Lord Voldemort. Too busy in his thoughts, he missed when Serenity had told him. His head snapped up when he heard her voice and stuttered out, "W-What?"

"You need to remember one important rule," she repeated, her voice stern. "To enter the soul in a one-sided strike is an invasion, a violation… it is taking hold and deciding life or death for someone else."

Thinking, she asked, "Any questions?"

Running through the information she had just told him, Harry softly asked, "If you're a fighter unit, don't you have a sacrifice?"

Her smile fell off her face as she tensed at the question. Her defiant stature crumbled as her gaze shifted to something behind him, and she replied in an equally soft voice, "My sacrifice is… was destroyed, but not in battle. He was killed in a motorcycle accident before I returned to England."

"I'm sorry for asking such a personal question," Harry said, his voice trailed off as he gathered his thoughts. "Umm… I also wanted to know something about Professor Dumbledore. Why didn't he teach me this sooner?"

Serenity clasped her hands in her lap; a bittersweet smile crossed her face as she thought back on her last memories of her grandfather. "Under the Fidelius Charm [6], he was the secret keeper over my whereabouts. He constantly feared that Voldemort would find me… I never did find out why he was afraid of that…"

Shaking her head, she cleared her throat. "We need to begin training, Harry. I'm going to recite a famous word spell phrase. While I do this, I want you to release everything: your hopes, fears, dreams, tensions, and pressures, anything that is holding you to this realm."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes, ready to focus. As her sweet voice filled the room, powerful waves of magic rushed inside.

"Basic instincts - social life… Paradoxes - side by side… Don't submit to stupid rules… Be yourself and not a fool… Don't accept average habits… Open your heart and push the limits… Open your heart… …and push the limits." [7]

He felt all tension in his body slack, his brain free of thoughts, and ultimately, he felt liberated - as if he was flying in a Quidditch match. The serene moment, however, was disturbed by a crashing sound of doors against metal, sending him tumbling back to Earth in a rush.

xXx

Amairé nervously waited for Minerva McGonagall to call her into the Headmaster's office. She managed to divert her attention by mentally going over all the ingredients for the potions that should have helped cure Lila's curse. Upon naming them, she was trying to figure out which one would be best to remove during experimental potions for the most effective results. She scribbled down notes on the side of her resume, not realizing that she would not need the documents.

Needlessly to say, she flew out of her seat when the Headmistress of Hogwarts had to come out of her office to gather the interviewee. Amairé's face was bright red, exposing her chagrin to Minerva, as she repeatedly apologized to the woman she had admired since she was raised in Hogwarts.

Once they were safely in the office Minerva softly chuckled at the young woman's behavior before ushering her to sit down and offered her a cup of tea. Professor McGonagall then surprised Amairé by asking about her whereabouts since Serenity's disappearance at the age of four.

Amairé explained that she had moved to Japan with her mother and then to Germany when mother became a doctor. She went on to say that she didn't meet up again with Serenity until they were thirteen, when she exchanged middle schools after she moved back to Japan. She told 'Aunt Minnie' that she was still unaware of who her father was and would like to do some research, more specifically a DNA test, to find him.

When Minerva paled at Amairé's suggestion, the blue haired woman took it as a sign of not understanding what a DNA test was, therefore quickly dropping the subject and switching to the school's condition and what all was entailed in being the new Transfiguration teacher. Minerva smiled at the change of topics and laid out what she had taught the students for the numerous past years. Amairé then began to ask about the requirements for taking over the job and Minerva just laughed, telling the blue haired woman that she already had the job. Amairé was delighted, papers sliding from her lap, before she threw herself over the desk to hug the brown haired Headmistress.

Minerva giggled, returned the hug and demanded that Amairé send Lila and Serenity to see her when they had the chance. Amairé agreed and offered to have her over for dinner, but Minerva declined for the night, saying she was still in search of Remus Lupin, in hopes that he would at least substitute for the Defense class until she could find another teacher. Amairé nodded her agreement, then suggested that Minerva persuade Serenity into doing it and offered to help persuade the last female Dumbledore.

xXx

Serenity was glaring at the intruders when Harry refocused his attention and re-grained his bearings. Peering around his shoulder, he caught sight of a bashful Hotaru, two pink haired girls, a blue haired girl, a red haired girl and a green-and-brown haired girl, all of whom looked to be around Hotaru's age.

"What have I told you about disrupting training sessions?"

All six looked to the floor in shame, as if there was something fascinating about it, while they mumbled their replies. Serenity sighed, cradling her face in her hands before looking back up and asking them, "Very well, since you are here, what did you want to ask me?"

The five girls Harry didn't recognize shifted their attention to Hotaru, who huffed in anger at their childish behavior before responding, "Sere-mama, we wanted to retrieve our school supplies before the mad rush tomorrow… and we were wondering if we may go clubbing with Akane, Suzu, Aya, Kimei, Nezu, Shisou, and Kioku later tonight."

Serenity kept a focused, hard gaze on the girls as she looked them over one by one. Her shoulders slumped in defeat when she returned her gaze to her adoptive daughter. The six looked like they were about to cheer when Serenity cleared her throat, gaining their attention faster than Harry could ask who they were.

"You may, on one condition." The six shifted in agitation, casting nervous glances at one another, as they waited to hear the condition. "You will give Harry a demonstration of word spell… and then he will go clubbing with you. Also, you will wear appropriate clothing and disguises. Do I make myself perfect clear?"

Her response was two out of six throwing themselves on her, squealing with happiness and appreciation. Serenity gave Hotaru and the pink haired teen a one-arm hug before asking who would demonstrate for Harry. The green-and-brown haired teen decided to go up against the red haired girl; they then introduced themselves as Jess and Ves Aster. Hotaru, Serenity, Harry, and the other three backed away from the arena and Serenity cast a protection shield in case any of their attacks went awry.

Jess announced, "I declare battle," before Ves accepted. After Serenity gave them a count down from five, Jess and Ves both cried out; _{__Engage systems!}_

Instead of Jess attacking head-on, Ves took charge, _{Continuation! Rend!} _before she shouted, _{__Defense!}_

_Defense! _Jess shouted in retaliation as she stuck out her hand to protect herself, _{That without shape shall protect this body. No power shall touch me. Power discharged… shall return to its source.}_

Ves managed to cry out _{Defense!} _thrice before she continued her offense with: _{Rip! Blast!}_

The two toned haired girl smirked at the two attacks before she reflected them with a flick of her hand and created a restriction on her red haired sister's wrist. Ves growled at her newly acquired band and harshly released a breath of air. _{Sever. Excise.}_

At the same time, Jess released what her sister was planning and muttered, _{Rotate. Diffraction. Divert the course of orbit!}_

_{I'm going to cut apart the body. If only a small portion.}_

Jess moaned at the tightness of collar around her neck before focusing on the situation at hand, upon hearing Ves cry, _{Cut - once more! Slice apart!}_

'_Don't think you're going to get away that fast, sister-dearest,'_ Jess thought as she shouted: _{This is impossible! Evade and recuperate. Again: rotate. Diffract. Inscribe an orbit.}_

Both girls were panting, but Ves managed to recover faster and shouted, _{Cut -_} just as Jess demanded, _{DENY!} _[8]

Before their battle could escalate further, Serenity shouted, _{Interference. Retreat in progress.}_

Harry gapped at the girls' condition, but was even more taken back when Serenity healed the bruises and cuts in several soft whispers. Hotaru smiled at him, "It's invigorating don't you think?"

He nodded before the blue haired girl beside him happily cried: **"WE GET GO CLUBBING! YAY!"**

Jess and Ves rolled their eyes at their youngest sister, while Hotaru and the other two giggled at the youngest sister's enthusiasm.

"Off with you," Serenity said as she waved the girl out of the room. Turning back to Harry, she smiled, "Good luck going clubbing with them. Just make sure they don't go home with anyone else, alright?"

Harry nodded before exiting the room behind the white haired woman.

* * *

1 ~ _Kites are an actual type of bird. Saoirse is my own creation._

2 ~ _From __Loveless__, the manga series._

3 ~ _This is made up - it's not apart of the Loveless series._

4 ~ _From __Loveless__, the manga series._

5 ~ _From __Loveless__, the manga series._

6 ~ _From __Harry Potter__, copyright of J.K. Rowling._

7 ~ _Enigma __Push the Limits__ Lyrics_

8 ~ _The entire scene from where Jess 'declares' battle to the finish is from __Loveless__._


	20. New Places, New Faces, New Discoveries

Chapter 20: _New Places, New Faces, New Discoveries_

Two weeks came and went as fast as the summer weather died, signaling the beginning of fall - Hotaru's favorite season. She was currently waiting for her friends to arrive in order for Sere-mama and Harry, under a disguise as Serenity's nephew, could take them to Platform 9 ¾. Pacing up and down in front of her bedroom, she was checking off a list of things that Serenity had told her she would need while she was at school. Quickly pulling on a dark blue turtle neck sweater that ended at her hips over a black mid-thigh skirt, she tugged up a pair of stripped leggings, before finding her black clogs by her desk and grabbed them before finishing the list.

Making sure everything on the list was in her brand new silver trunk she closed and latched it shut with a common muggle lock. Then Hotaru attempted to drag the heavy trunk out of the room, but only managed to get it half way out of the door before she landed on her butt. Upon hearing laughing, she turned to face a now blonde-red haired Harry, who wore violet contacts and a concealer over his lightning bolt scar. He was leaning up against the wall, dressed in a crimson t-shirt and black jeans that were frayed at the ends and had holes in the knees.

It was only after Hotaru pouted at Harry, with her arms crossed over her chest, that the Boy-Who-Lived offer her help, "Would you like some help getting that trunk downstairs, Ru?"

She nodded immediately and then stuck her hand out, demanding he help her up. He smiled at her and hauled her to her feet, giving her head a rush that made a wave of nausea flood her system. Wincing, Hotaru forced it down and gave her new friend a weak smile. Harry slung an arm over her shoulder, waiting for her to regain her normal breathing patterns.

"You alright, Ru?" he asked with a trace of concern lacing his voice.

Hotaru elbowed him in return and giggled in reply. "Yeah, I'll be fine, Ry."

The two had began to call each other by the last two letters in their name as nicknames for the past two weeks, irritating Hotaru's friends, because they didn't understand the connection that Hotaru had made so quickly with Harry. They had shared stories late at night when they could sleep or were disturbed by nightmares. Surprisingly enough, Harry had been the one to start their late night-rendezvous. He had unofficially moved into Dumbledore Manor for training and when he had heard Hotaru screaming and crying late one night, they started swapping stories and offering comfort to one another. Since then, the two had been nearly inseparable.

"C'mon, Ru," Harry whined, "your friends are downstairs wondering where we are!"

Hotaru giggled at his childish behavior, but picked up one side of the trunk as he took the other and together they hauled the trunk to the foyer and, sure enough, twelve girls sat waiting for the two of them. She smiled at all of her friends before being immediately embraced.

Deciding to introduce the rest of her friends to Harry, she turned to a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl that was currently arguing with a light blue-haired, blue-eyed female that was next to her. Both had hair had reached their waists, left hanging freely. Harry and Hotaru caught part of conversation, "You're always hungry, Aya!" to which Aya replied, "I can't do anything about that!"

Hotaru began whispering to Harry's ear, "Akane Karasuma is the brown-haired girl and the one arguing with her is Aya Reiko… and it's true, Aya really is hungry all the time. When Sere-mama was younger, she was a lot like Aya."

Carefully pointing to two figures next to the arguing girls, Harry found himself to be staring at two sleeping figures with one sporting black hair and the other with white. The white haired girl was the height of Serenity's adoptive daughter, while the black haired girl was a foot taller, standing at roughly 5'7".

"Those two are respectfully, Suzu Nyanko and Nezu Chuuko. They are an odd pair of friends… you see, Suzu loves cats, while Nezu is deathly scared of them."

That earned her a chuckle from Harry, as he signaled for Hotaru to continue, "Kimei Chouko is the violet haired girl, while the lavender haired girls, Shisou Kurohyou and Kioku Kitsune, are girlfriends."

Kimei had curly, violet hair that gently brushed her shoulders as she listened in on the conversations. Shisou had her lavender hair tied in four small loops, two on either side of her head, with four curled pigtails that reached her waist. Kioku on the other hand had her hair simply tied into four pigtails with black bows, two fell over her right shoulder as she leaned into Shisou. They were discussing the conflict in the wizarding world in hushed murmurs. A smile cracked at Harry's face at the lavender haired girls. They sort of reminded him of two Aurors Serenity had help Harry in training: Skye Ten'ou and Izumi Kai'ou, who were wives.

"You know the last five," Hotaru said, but re-introduced them for Harry's sake, "Paula is youngest of the Aster sisters, with blue hair. Cere is the eldest with pink hair. Jess is the second youngest and is arguing with the red haired one, Ves… as usual." [1]

Harry grinned and wrapped an arm around Hotaru's waist, before whispering in her ear, "The ones arguing seriously need boyfriends."

Hotaru burst into a fit of giggles, causing all the attention in the room to shift to the only two standing figures. It was at that moment that Serenity rushed down the staircase swearing in her native tongue. Behind her were Sakura and Amairé, the latter of the two was wearing glamour charms, chatting happily about the classes they would be teaching at Hogwarts. Amairé's blue hair turned to a soft shade of brown that reminded Harry of Hermione. Despite the hair changes, Amairé retained her natural eye color.

Sakura cleared her throat loudly, gaining the teens attention. "Alright, from now on you munchkins won't be calling us 'Auntie' anything. I'm Professor Evans, and Amairé is Professor Mizuno. In private, you can call us Auntie Sakura or Auntie Mai, but otherwise, nothing else."

The group nodded.

"If any of your classmates ask how you know us so well, tell them that we were your professors at Maryoku as well, alright?" Amairé instructed.

Another round of nods satisfied the two women while Serenity rushed back into the foyer. "Alright, I found the portkey. On the count of three: three… two… _one_!"

Seventeen hands grabbed the toy train in Serenity's gloved hand and they all experienced the tug of the portkey before they landed outside of the Train Station. Sakura and Amairé focused on separating the group in smaller clusters so as not to arise suspicion. Sakura gave a nod of her head and Aya, Akane, Shisou, Kikou, and Kimei quickly followed behind her, their trunks and familiars in cages on carts. Several moments later Amairé ushered Jess, Ves, Cere, Paula, and Nezu into the muggle train station. Shortly after Amairé left, Serenity exited their hiding place with a disguised Harry, Hotaru, Rini, and Suzu.

The teens - minus Harry - all looked around the train station in wonder. They pretended to catch sight of their other friends and rushed over to form one large group, happily chatting among themselves. Sakura told them to pay attention to her as she crossed the barrier. Inconspicuously they watched as their brunette professor ran through a brick wall. They drew straws to see who went first; Kimei was chosen. As Kimei disappeared, Shisou was chosen, followed by Cere, Aya, Rini, Nezu, Kikou, Jess, Hotaru (Harry tagged along with her), Paula, Suzu, Akane, and Paula. Amairé and Serenity crossed their barrier after they made sure the teens had gotten through.

Once on the Platform 9 ¾, the girls were embraced by the three women and said their farewells before they hauled their trunks and familiars up the steps of the train and into their compartments. Hotaru opened the window to her compartment and waved goodbye and promising to write to Harry.

Destination: Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

xXx

_The entire Gryffindor house was excited to have their own prefect back at Hogwarts; they ended up celebrating the whole weekend long that Lily Evans returned to school. Lily may have been happy to be back, but she sure had a funny away of showing it - when she had gotten back she had said her hellos then marched off to her room, which was outside of Gryffindor tower. Remus was the first person that Lily told her secret to when she got back._

_Being a Marauder, Remus's curiosity got the better half of him when Lily hadn't stepped foot out of her new rooms since she had arrived. Professor McGonagall had instructed him to tell Lily that she had been chosen to help watch Professor Dumbledore's granddaughter, so Remus figured that that was a reasonable excuse to go visit his red-haired friend. _

_Picking up the sleeping Serenity from an-already-sleeping James (on his textbooks none the less; Remus could hear Lily nagging at his friend for sleeping on them), he silently crept out of Gryffindor door, turning right and then down a set of stairs and turned left to Lily's new rooms. He knocked, politely waiting for her to open the door. _

_When she didn't open the door, he ransacked his mind for the password that Professor McGonagall had told him. He softly muttered, "Roses and Lilies." and the door unlocked by itself, allowing him access to the room. The door closed as Remus entered, feeling nervous about entering Lily's private rooms. _

_His sharp earring from being a werewolf allowed him to hear soft sobs coming from the bathroom. His golden eyes widened when he saw a muggle play-pin beside Lily's desk, which was completely covered with textbooks. He quickly opened the bathroom door to find his sobbing red-haired friend clutching something in an overprotective manner to her chest._

_ "Lily…" he ventured, "are you alright?"_

_As Remus breathed in, he smelt Lily's feeling of nervousness and fear as well as something that smelt similar to another werewolf. Inching closer to the huddled fifteen-year-old, he saw that what she held was a sleeping baby, which had the odor of a werewolf. His golden eyes widened in realization; the baby must be half-werewolf, seeing as he could tell that the baby was Lily's daughter._

_Remus sat down next to Lily, embracing her with one arm, he attempted to soothe her fears and worries by rocking her back and worth, whispering words of comfort. "It's alright, Lily, I'll help you raise her, okay? I'm not going to let your daughter grow up with the same prejudices I did. I'll do everything I can to help raise her correctly… please stop crying, Lily, I'm here, no one's going to hurt you or your baby…"_

_When she finally calmed down enough, she swiped the tears running down from her red-rimmed emerald eyes with the sleeve of her blue sweater, murmuring, "Thanks, Rem."_

_Leaning into his embrace, she relaxed; not as much as he would have liked her to, but enough to keep his own qualms at bay. The red-haired teen, breathing deeply, softly asked, "How did you know, Rem?" _

_Before he had the chance to reply, Lily continued to talk after a bitter, yet soft, laugh: "…stupid question because you're a werewolf… please don't tell James … and Sirius. Rem, I don't want them to know," tears became to trek down her cheeks, "Merlin, what will I do if they find out?"_

_After a pause, Remus gathered his thoughts, and while rubbing her back in soothing circles, began to speak._

_ "Lily, you have to tell James and Sirius. We could help your daughter. After all, they do come with me during my transformation."_

_She sighed reluctantly, but nodded her head in understanding before turning her emerald green eyes to gaze down at the sleeping baby girl in her arms. After gently brushing several loose auburn strands of hair out of the baby's face, Lily turned her emerald eyes up to Remus's golden orbs. "Rem, would you be her godfather? I don't know anybody who would be willing to do what you are for her…"_

_Remus's face lit up as his smiled, "Of course, Lily. I'd be honored to be your daughter's godfather. …Say, what's her name?"_

_ "Sakura," was the mellifluous response. "Sakura Rose Evans."_

_Sakura's godfather smiled at the baby girl, whose fists clutched her mother's shirt while she slept peacefully, "She's beautiful - just like her mother."_

xXx

During the train ride to Hogwarts Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardary, Hotaru and company had met the other exchange students to Hogwarts Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardary. They had come across one braided fellow - Duo Maxwell, as they learned later - being chased by one irate Chinese man with a katana - later to be known as Chang Wufei - as they tried to find an empty compartment. Duo had dashed between the girls as if they were life-size chess pieces with Wufei hot on his tail, muttering curses under his breath about women.

The girls later met Duo and Wufei's companions - Hiiro Yui, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Trowa Barton - after Shishou had swung open the door, sending the bickering Akane and Aya into their train compartment. Across from the three males was a crowded group of ten; seven seated and three on the floor, who likewise had their train door open. The girls learned that Yugi Motou, Mokuba Kaiba, and Ryou Hikage were seated on the floor, playing a game with an assortment of cards that they didn't understand.

Rini had pointed out to Hotaru that Ryou was situated on another boy's feet; they were told after introductions that Marik Ishtar and Ryou were dating. The boy to Marik's right had brown spiky hair - Valon Kariudo - and chatting animatedly, as if flirting, to the blonde girl beside him, Mai Valentine. Across from Marik was a blonde haired teen who was quite the silent type, his name was Rafael Kyouryoku. Beside Rafael were two males; a red haired Alister Tousou, and Duke Devlin, who Hotaru almost mistook for Harry. Curled up in the corner sleeping was Serenity Wheeler, using Duke as pillow.

As they chatted, Hotaru introduced all of her friends to the others and began swapping stories just as Duo and Wufei finally re-entered their now linked compartment. Hiiro, Ryou, Marik, Yugi, Mokuba were from Japan, while Duo, Serenity, Valon, Mai, Alister and Rafael were from America, Quatre was from Arabia, Trowa was from France, Duke Devlin was from England but raised in Japan, and finally Wufei was from China. [2]

Hotaru had taken a particular liking to Duke and Yugi, as well as Duo; Duke because he reminded her of Harry, Yugi because he had a pleasing and kind aura, and Duo because he had made her smile upon seeing her saddened state. The girls had exchanged looks that said they had determined that Serenity and Mai were possible candidates for senshi; keeping an eye open for anything that would send positive or negative signs. As a collective group - through use of the two compartments, they all changed into their school robes while chatting about the Houses they would be sorted into among other things, such as Quidditch, classes, and even food.

As the train slowed down, they were greeted by a half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid, calling loudly for the first years, while the others quickly scattered to the carriages to cross the drawbridge to the castle.

A pair of wide Prussian blue orbs stared in wonder and awe at the stone castle, but her attention was quickly drawn to the Thestrals, which Hotaru had recognized after reading Hogwarts: A History. Her smile was longing; she knew why she was able to see them, but did not comment about them to her friends.

Rini and surprisingly enough, Valon, caught her saddened look, and were quick to draw the violet haired teen out of it by poking jokes at the others. Hotaru then listened intently to their conversation in the carriage before the collective group of second to seventh years was stopped outside of the Great Hall by a walrus looking man dressed in dark green robes. He asked for the exchange students to step aside, which they did and followed him down a passage way to meet up with the first years, which were also being sorted.

Hotaru watched as the last first year was sorted into Hufflepuff, before the Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, stood up and explained to school that Hogwarts had received its first exchange students in nearly half a century. She told her students that the exchange students were to be respected and treated as if they had attended Hogwarts since their first year.

The group of teens then waited for their names to be called. Cere Aster was the first to be sorted - into Hufflepuff - and was met with loud whoops of excitement, whistles, cat calls, and clapping from her new Hufflepuff housemates. Hiiro was the last to be sorted - into Gryffindor - before the Headmistress called out: "Tuck in!" and food appeared before them on the tables.

Hotaru was seated beside Kioku and Ves at the Ravenclaw table, with Trowa, Mokuba, Quatre and Ryou sitting opposite them. Quatre was debating with Mokuba the ethics of Mokuba's older brother's company. Her Prussian blue eyes scanned over the students, looking for her now-blonde haired best friend, Rini. Rini was chatting animatedly with Cere and company, but managed to give Hotaru a small wave. Rini and Cere sat with Mai, Serenity, Valon and Duo. The two males were busy trading the cards she had seen on the train.

Turning her attention to the Gryffindor table, where Duke was talking with a red haired young man and brunette female. Next to Duke were Raphael and Hiiro, who were in a heated staring contest, and Yugi was trying to get them to stop, so he could eat in peace. Jess was giving a commentary of the two glaring Gryffindors, while Suzu and Kimei laughed at the commentary.

Her eyes then landed on Wufei, who was in a heated argument with Shishou, while Aya looked on, munching happily on a cookie. Akane was arm-wrestling with Alister; Akane was cheered on by Nezu, who had accidentally dumped one of Aya's plates on a pug-faced girl's head. The pug-faced girl screeched at Nezu, who hid behind Alister, causing a ruckus at the Slytherin table before the dispute died down just as Professor Slughorn - the walrus-looking man from before - came down from the teachers' table and asked what the problem between the girls was.

'_It's going to be one hell of a year,'_ Hotaru thought before turning her attention back to the desserts.

xXx

Later that evening Hotaru had snuck out of the bedroom that she was sharing with Ves and Kioku and using the floo powder (that she had smuggled in) and fireplace in the Ravenclaw Common Room, she flooed to Dumbledore Manor. As she landed in the chilly and unused fireplace, she mumbled her complaints about her sore butt before hauling herself to her feet and slowly creeping her way out of the room, then tiptoeing down the darkened hallway. The only sources of light were the flickering candles that lit up as she went past them.

Upon hearing soft muted voices coming from the training room, Hotaru edged towards the door and pressed her right ear, listening to the conversation. She didn't quite catch what her adopted mother was telling their visitor, but she heard the words 'sacrifice' and 'fighter'. Was this visitor also interested in learning the way a word spell battle was fought like Harry?

Hotaru's violet eyebrows knitted into a frown as she thought about fighting in a word spell battle.[3] She began pacing outside the room, thinking to herself, _'Not many modern-day wizards and witches are taught this way. I believe it had something to do with the former Dark Lord… Somehow it was declared a Dark Magic and thus not used by this current generation. It doesn't make much sense as to why Sere-mama is teaching it to others - she hasn't before, so why now? Does it have something to do with Voldemort? Is it his weakness? Or-'_

Her Prussian blue eyes widened in horror at her last thoughts. She came to a stop facing the door as realization dawned on her: _'He knows how to engage others in battling with word spell! If this is true, then the modern-day Wizarding community is doomed…'_

She shivered in horror at the thought of the destruction that it would cause. The tingling sensation made her jump, causing her foot to step off the carpet and onto the wooden floor, leading her squeak out of protest of the coldness of the wooden floor. Hotaru thought back to when she had interrupted Serenity's training with Harry; what she had called Harry - a dominate sacrifice. It could work…

'_Hopefully Harry can substitute as a sacrifice for Sere-mama. She's the only one that has a decent amount of knowledge on this method of fighting.'_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to the training room creaked open, causing Hotaru to wince at the sound of nails being dragged down a chalkboard filled her ears. She then spun around on the ball of her heel and fell to the floor with a thud as she lost balance.

Sweet chiming laughter of her adopted mother filled her ears and Hotaru's shoulders slumped at being found in such a state. Her cheeks filled quickly in a shade of bright red as she tugged on the hem of her yellow pajama shirt. A calloused, pallid hand reached out to help her up and she accepted the offer without speaking.

As she was yanked to her feet, she ended up leaning against a very-masculine chest, causing her to raise her Prussian blue eyes in a flash. They met with a pair of silver mercury orbs, which studied her thoughtfully and carefully as Hotaru quickly pulled her hand back and moved away from their male visitor. She hid behind Serenity, clutching to the older woman's robes, as if she needed a form of protection from the young man.

"Taru, I would like you to meet my new student," Serenity said aloud and peered down at her adopted daughter with amused orbs that appeared a deep sapphire with the lack of lighting. Hotaru poked her head out from behind Serenity, "this is Draco Malfoy. He will be learning the ways of word spell battle."

Hotaru let out an "eep" and hid once again. Serenity's soft laughter rang down the hallway with fainted chuckles from the silver mercury eyed teen. The white haired woman continued the introductions, "Draco, this is my adopted daughter, Hotaru… who should be at Hogwarts. Why did you decide to come home without informing me, Taru?"

Hotaru emerged from behind the white haired woman with her head slightly lowered and eyes cast down at her feet as she rocked back and forth on her heels, hands behind her back. "I just wanted to tell you that I was sorted into Ravenclaw, and that I met the other exchange students. They're very nice and from all sorts of places. Oh, Rini ended up in Hufflepuff, like you predicted, so I think Ruka-papa owes you lunch!"

Serenity giggled once more and hugged the violet haired girl, then whispered in her ear as the hug was reciprocated, "Thank you for coming home. The house was quite silent without all of you."

Hotaru smiled at her adoptive mother as she was released, quickly shook hands with the white-haired Draco before she rushed back down the hallway to the Floo chamber. Upon getting there, she threw in some green soot and returned to Ravenclaw tower, where she breathed a sigh of relief, but still wore a slight frown from her early train of thoughts.

* * *

1 ~ _Tsukino, Rini. Reiko, Aya. Chouko, Kimei. Karasuma, Akane; Nyanko, Suzu; Chuuko, Nezu; Kitsune, Kioku; Kurohyou, Shishou. Aster: Cere, Jess, Ves and Paula._

Rini, Aya, Akane, Suzu and Nezu are the actual names of characters from the anime of Sailor Moon. Rini is Chibi Usagi and Chibi Sailor Moon; Aya Reiko is Sailor Aluminum Siren; Akane Karasuma is Sailor Lead Crow; Suzu Nyanko is Sailor Tin Nyanko; and Nezu Chuuko is Sailor Iron Mouse.

Kimsei Chouko, Kioku Kitsune, Shishou Kurohyou, Cere Aster, Jess Aster, Ves Aster and Paula Aster are names for other senshi from the manga of Sailor Moon because they never received names during the Stars Session or were completely cut out. Kimsei Chouko is Sailor Heavy Metal Papillion; Kioku Kitsune is Sailor Mnemosyne; Shishou Kurohyou is Sailor Lethe; Cere Aster is Sailor Ceres, or Cere Cere; Jess Aster is Sailor Juno or Jun Jun; Ves Aster is Sailor Vesta or Ves Ves; and Paula Aster is Sailor Pallas or Palla Palla. The last four are Sailor Chibi Moon's guardians from the Asteroid belt.

2 ~ _Hiiro, Ryou, Marik, Yugi, Mokuba were from Japan, while Duo, Serenity, Valon, Mai, Alister and Rafael were from America, Quatre was from Arabia, Trowa was from France, Duke was from England but raised in Japan, and finally, Wufei was from China._

Hiiro Yui, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner and Wufei Chang are from Gundam Wing, so the countries they are from are according to GW, with the exception of Trowa - I decided he would be best from France. Ryou Hikage, Marik Ishtar, Mokuba Kabia, Serenity Wheeler, Valon Kariudo, Rafael Kyouryoku, Duke Devlin, Alister Tousou and Mai Valentine are from Yu-Gi-Oh!, the exceptions for this group are Valon, Rafael, Mai and Alister - I decided that they needed to be from some place else other than Japan (Valon sounds like he's from Australia, though). The last names of Ryou, Rafael, Valon and Alister are mine; please don't take without permission. Duke's birth in England will be explained later.

3 ~ _Word spell battle_

From Loveless.


	21. Eventful School Days

Chapter 21: _Eventful School Days_

Yawning and stretching her hands above her head as her alarm clock went off, Hotaru grumbled about the lousy pillows before tugging her tank top down. Wandering in the direction of the dorm bathrooms, she heard a loud _thunk!_ resound from her left. Spinning around on her feet, wand immediately in her right hand, her vigilant stance only relaxed as her Prussian blue orbs landed the red haired Ves still sleeping soundly on the wooden floor.

Rolling her eyes, she continued on her way to the bathroom, heading for a warm shower. Accioing towels, shampoo and soap, Hotaru quickly stripped before jumping into the warm, gently drizzling water. Humming to herself, she didn't hear the door creak open.

"Morning Hotaru-chan," came the soft voice of Kioku.

Hotaru's lathered violet locks swung around as she jerked her head around to look up at the lavender haired seventh year Ravenclaw. A smile broke out on her face and she happily replied, "Morning, Kioku-san. Did you sleep well last night?"

Like Hotaru, Kioku was known for being susceptible to having horribly vivid nightmares. Serenity had told Hotaru that the reason was most likely that Kioku could recall the nightmares was because she was Sailor Mnemosyne, senshi of memory. Serenity surmised that the nightmares were actually someone else's memories.

Shaking her head of her train of thought, Hotaru cocked her head to the right side, violet locks tumbling over her shoulder as she heard Kioku's mellifluous reply as she tied her hair into her traditional curled pigtails, "Fine, thank you, Hotaru-chan. The Dreamless Sleep potion did wonders for me last night."

Finishing her shower, Hotaru scrambled out of the shower room to dry and change into her new school uniform, which consisted of a gray skirt, a white dress shirt, a sleeveless v-neck gray cardigan with a blue stripe running along side the v, a blue tie, black tights, and a black set of robes with a blue and bronze Ravenclaw badge on the left side. Throwing it on hastily, she padded her hair dry before grabbing her school supplies and heading to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hotaru was hurrying to see Rini - she hoped that she shared at least one class with her best friend.

Surprisingly enough, Hotaru did not get lost on the way to Great Hall - nor stumbled when riding the staircases that switched. She ran smack-dab into her best friend, Rini Tsukino, who had been tying her now-blonde hair into their traditional rabbit-ear-shaped cones. They talked animatedly in Japanese; ignoring the curious looks they received from other students.

When they reached the Great Hall, they separated, heading towards their respective tables of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

xXx

After breakfast Hotaru began to search for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, but instead of finding it, she found herself lost among the many levels of Hogwarts. Scratching the back of her head, she began to re-trace her footsteps back to a portrait of a corpulent lady dressed in a pink dress, fanning herself and eating grapes. Underneath the portrait, a plaque read, "Fat Lady," by Scarlet Gülay. [1]

"Oh dear," she heard the portrait woman say, "are you lost, sweetie?"

Hotaru turned somewhat, a smile gracing her face as she scratched the back of her head nervously before nodding. Glancing down at her schedule, she told Fat Lady, "I'm looking for the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom… do you happen to know where that would be?"

Fat Lady chuckled before picking up a feathered fan and began directing air towards herself. "My dear, I have not been moved from this spot in nearly fifty years! Perhaps I could speak to the portraits and see if another student is headed in your direction?"

Before either Hotaru got the chance to reply or Fat Lady could move to talk to other portraits along the hallway, a brunette female came down the hallway with a red-haired boy sprinting next to her. They slowly came to a stop as they neared Fat Lady's portrait. The brunette cleared her throat before saying, "Snugglebottom."

Fat Lady didn't open the portrait immediately, but rather asked her two Gryffindor students, "Are either of you headed towards the Defense Room, m'dears?"

The red-haired nodded as he caught his breath, and Fat Lady opened the door to allow them access after she said, "Would you two be dears and please kindly show our exchange student to the room as well as the rest of her classes?"

"Sure! It's nice to meet you, I'm the Head Girl, Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley. We're both seventh year students from Gryffindor." Hermione piped up as she entered the common room, Ron nodded and then allowed Hotaru to go in before he did. She politely whispered her thanks before she entered Gryffindor Common Room, her head caught in memories of the summer when she had originally met the two… she also recalled what Harry had told her about the two. The red-haired Weasley said, "We'll be back shortly. Sorry if we're late to class!"

Hotaru raised her head as she entered, barely registering what Ron said, as she admired the room decorated in shades of crimson and gold. It didn't seem as comfortable as the Ravenclaw Commons, but that was because she could see the bricks that made up the tower. She was still studying the decorations as Hermione came rushing down the stairs as fast as her feet would carry her, a rather large orange cat followed closely at her heals. The hissing it made caught Hotaru's attention. Hermione leaned down to pet the irritable cat, before it inched towards the violet haired Ravenclaw; taking a liking to her black ballet flats.

"You'll have to excuse Crookshanks," Hermione told her, "he's very irritable this morning because I took the book he was sleeping on."

Smiling at Crookshanks, Hotaru didn't say anything. It was then that Ron blundered down the stairs, book bag swinging behind him with every motion he made. "Got it," he panted as he stepped off the last stair and headed towards the two girls.

"Honestly, Ron, how could you forget your wand?!?" the brunette girl demanded. Spinning around on the ball of her foot, she quickly exited the common room, Ron lurched forward to keep up with her, leaving Hotaru to try to keep up with them and a fuming Crookshanks at losing another source of warmth.

As the three students rushed through corridors to get to the Defense room, the two Gryffindors didn't notice Hotaru began to lag behind them.

'_The potion…' _Hotaru though, _'it isn't working… oh dear, I can't keep up with them… I have to write to Sere-mama about this…'_

She leaned against the wall, catching her breath; her muscles had been straining to get her this far. It was only when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway did her body grow taut, afraid that a teacher would reprimand her and take points away from Ravenclaw on her first day. When she looked up, she saw the red-haired teen from earlier. _'What was his name? …Don? Sean? … he's a Weasley, if I remember correctly."_

"Sorry about that,… um… are you alright?" he asked. "You look really pale… say, do you want me to help you go to the Hospital Wing to see Madame Pomfrey?"

Hotaru shook her head, violet locks gently hitting her in the face. She felt him grab her book bag before he slung her arm over his shoulder. "Let me help you at least get to the classroom… uh, I hope you don't mind… Say, I never got your name… I'm sure Herm - she's my girlfriend - told you, I'm Ron Weasley. What's your name?"

A weak chuckle emitted from Hotaru's lips, "I'm Hotaru Dumbledore. It's nice to meet you, Ron."

The red-haired stopped in his tracks at her name. She peeked up at his suddenly ashen face: "Is something wrong?"

He quickly shook his head, then remained silent for the rest of the trip to the Defense classroom.

When they reached the classroom, Ron allowed her to pick out a seat, next to Kikou, who politely offered to help her, before Ron handed Kikou Hotaru's school bag. Then he informed the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Lupin, that Hotaru was late because she was a foreign exchange student and had gotten lost in the corridors. He then crossed the room to sit next to the brunette female, Hermione if her memory served her correctly, whom he had been with earlier.

xXx

Hotaru went to her Potions class, where she was affectionately greeted by Professor Slughorn, who immediately asked her if Serenity was her mother. She froze at the question, but nodded at the walrus-looking man, then quickly took a seat beside Mai Valentine, who was a seventh year Hufflepuff that she recalled talking to on the Hogwarts Express.

At the end of Potions class, Hotaru was approached by Professor Slughorn, who immediately initiated her into the 'Slugclub', claiming that the daughter of his goddaughter would fit in perfectly. She smiled shyly before slowly sliding out of the dungeons and bolting up to the stairs to the Great Hall for lunch.

xXx

As Hotaru walked out of the Great Hall early, eager to get to Transfiguration with her Auntie Mai was teaching it. Pondering about her aunt, she wondered why the blue-haired woman had reverted her last name to her mother's maiden last name. She didn't have much time to think about it because just then, her adoptive mother's phoenix, Fawkes, swooped into the Great Hall, directly towards her.

She let out an _**'EEP!' **_because she was so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't heard the sweet call of the fire phoenix as it dove beside her and landed on her head. The golden eyed bird waved the note attached to his foot in front of her face. She gingerly untied it, and read Hotaruscrawled across the envelope in her mother's handwriting, then thanked the phoenix and petted it while ripping the envelope open.

All the students eyes and professors eyes stared in awe at the phoenix happily perched on Hotaru's shoulder.

Continuing out of the Great Hall as nothing had happened, Hotaru began to skim the letter.

_Hotaru-chan,_

_I understand that you are probably confused as to why a total stranger was in the manor last night - he, Draco Lucius Malfoy , is my newest student. I am training him in much the same manner I am teaching your beloved Ry._

Hotaru vividly recalled the handsome young man from the previous night. At the last couple of words, Hotaru's face flushed bright red. _'Ry's not my beloved… I wish he was though,'_ she thought longingly.

_I am hoping that Draco will a be a fast learner (we both know Ry was); he seems to grasp the theory of how to fight, but not so much the practice of it. Oh well. Much like Ry, he is also a dominate sacrifice; it is quite odd for there to be more than one in a certain at any given point in time. I imagine they butt heads quite often._

Hotaru giggled at the thought of Ry, also known as Harry, and the blonde haired man from the previous night fighting. She could imagine it though.

_It is quite saddening that no one else will teach this extraordinary young man the rest of his seventh year classes. Severus, an old friend of mine, is teaching him what he can in Potions and Charms, but he can only do so much. I am wondering how I will be able to teach him when I transfer to Hogwarts the second trimester._

_I thought I would inform you that Ry and I will not be at the manor the weekend you planned on seeing us - instead, we have a mission, and one I am unable to explain in a letter. Ry is eager to see you soon; I told him he couldn't see you until your next free weekend - I believe it is the trip to Hogsmeade, is it not? Hopefully we will be able to see you then._

_Both of us send our love,_

_Your mother_

Beneath that was a different kind of handwriting which she assumed to be Ry's; after all, it was his name.

_Ry (the more important one!)_

_P.s. I hope you get along well with Ron and Mione; please tell them I said 'hi'._

She chuckled at what he had written and admitted, she too was eager to see Harry again.

Hotaru was so caught up in the note that she did not see a young Yugi Motou coming at her with his stack of books for his next class gathered in his arms. When she bumped into him, the books scattered like pieces of hay on a winding day. As she helped him gathered them up, repeatedly apologizing, Hotaru noticed that he had red-rimmed eyes.

"Are you alright?" she whispered.

When his violet-black spiked locks shook violently with his head, she reached out and hugged him to her, stuffing her note into the pocket of her outer robe. As her arms wrapped around the petit frame, she felt an aura similar to hers, only less dark. Pulling away slightly, she murmured, "You're a former Host as well, aren't you?" [2]

Yugi gasped, his violet eyes widened as he stared up at her, before quickly throwing glances over his shoulders. Staring at his books clutched to his chest, he nodded.

Hotaru patted him on the head, noted that his hair was extremely soft, despite the sharp appearance of it: "Don't worry, I am one too. I know how it feels."

* * *

1 ~ _Scarlet G__ü__lay_

She is my own character from another novel.

2 ~ _Host_

This is the easiest way for me to understand how Yami (or whatever his official name is) is attached to Yugi.


	22. First Words

Chapter 22: _First Words_

An exhausted Severus Snape returned to Slytherin common room his bookcase lagging behind him, banging with each step he took up the spiral staircase. An excited baby Serenity kept clutching at the back of his robes, attempting to climb over his shoulder, as she eyed the book bag trailing behind Severus. Going down a set of stairs to the boys dormitory, he ignored the shouts from William Nott to come back and play a game of chess. Severus was all too ready to relax for the weekend. The white haired baby girl had other plans for him, though.

Slipping past the creaking door to his bedroom, he headed straight for the bed, dumping the contents of his schoolbag on it and gently lowering the gurgling Serenity on a changing table, he prepared to put the enthusiastic baby into a new diaper and get ready for dinner. Grabbing onto her feet, Serenity made gargling noises as she attempted to stick them in her mouth. Severus took the opportunity to clean her bottom with a simple charm and then wrapped her lower half in a clean diaper.

Grabbing the clean light blue dress he had laid out earlier that morning, he undid the buttons on the back before sliding it over Serenity's head. Severus guided her hands into the puffy sleeves and connected the buttons with the holes in the fabric. While he was busy with her clothes, Serenity had laid her hands on her white Mary Jane shoes, eagerly clapping them together. The black haired Slytherin sighed; this baby was exasperating, but wonderfully sweet. After taking care of her for a mere three months made him never want to have kids.

He slid her tiny feet into white socks with lace adorning the edges, he grabbed the shoes she was making noise with and put them into a bag that held the rest of her clothes and baby items. Gently picking up the baby Serenity, Severus put her into her magical play-pin that was shielded with magic to protect her from intruders and prohibit her from crawling out or randomly teleporting herself. He conjured several toys for her to amuse herself with before heading back to his desk.\

Severus then pulled out the gift his mother had sent him for his birthday, which was today. Carefully unwrapping it, he discovered it was a book about potions, regarding their ingredients and which ones were interchangeable; it was written by Salazar Slytherin, translated by a man named Vlad Tempes III. He was so engrossed in the book he didn't hear baby Serenity crying, nor did he hear her throw the toys at the wall.

When seventh year Head Boy, Lucius Malfoy, entered the room to remind his boyfriend of a year and half that dinner was ready, he heard the sobbing, throwing-a-tantrum, and clearly-unhappy baby Serenity. Picking up the wailing almost-one-year-old, he held her tightly to his chest, as if she was his own daughter. Within moments of cradling the white haired little girl, her wailing and sobbing had ceased. Hushing nonsensical words to the little girl, he swayed his hips as if he were dancing to an silent waltz. Lucius was well aware of when Serenity was no longer crying because she began to tug at his shoulder length white hair, which earned her a low growl of disproval, to which she simply giggled and tugged again.

Continuing to waltz, he entered his boyfriend's bedroom, wondering why in the seven blazing hells Severus had left his charge unattended. He raised an elegant white eyebrow upon seeing the back of his boyfriend, who was slumped over his desk and on top of the book he had been reading.

Sighing, Lucius strode across the bedroom and placed butterfly kisses on the back of Severus's neck. Severus snapped out of his reverie with a gasp and by jumping from his seat, he ended up hitting his legs up against the wooden frame of his desk. He cringed at the pain that shot through them and accidentally knocked his book from the desk, causing it to fall to the floor. Severus attempted to whip around, looking for the cherished granddaughter of the Headmaster.

Serenity had her chubby tiny hands in front of her mouth, giggling, in the arms of his boyfriend, Lucius. Letting go a sigh of relief, he stretched his arms outward Serenity, who thrust her arms out in reply to be held by the young Potions expert.

While handing baby Serenity over to Severus, Lucius pressed a hand atop of Severus's forehead; who swatted the refined hand away, then asked, "Are you feeling alright, Sev? It's atypical of you to fall asleep… especially with baby Sere in your care. Did you sleep well last night?"

The black haired fifth year shrugged, tightly holding onto the white haired little girl, who clutched onto his gray cardigan with her little fists. Resting her head on his shoulder, she opened her mouth to its full extent, yawning, closing her light blue-lavender orbs for only a moment, before opening them again to see their lips locked together.

As the head boy and fifth year broke apart, Serenity heard Lucius whisper, "Happy birthday, Sev" to her caretaker.

Blinking, the baby girl murmured, "Wevy," which Lucius translated as, "hungry."

"Aw," he cooed, and stroke the white curls on Serenity's head, "are you hungry, Sere?"

Instead of shaking or nodding her head, she loudly stated, "Wevy!"

Severus stared down at the light-blue-lavender eyes that stared up at him. "Wevy…" she reiterated before yawning once more.

Lucius chuckled, before pressing his lips to Severus' frowning forehead: "I think she's trying to say your name, Sev."

A nod from his black haired boyfriend was all he received before he was tugged out of the bedroom and dragged down the Slytherin common room, out of them, past the Great Hall - in which students eagerly gathered for dinner - to the Headmaster's office, where Severus softly told the gargoyle, "Snickers."

Severus fidgeted while waiting for the gargoyle to turn around and provide the necessary stairs to the office; meanwhile Lucius panted for air, supporting himself against the stone wall.

Once the stairs appeared, Severus disappeared with a blink of Lucius's silver orbs; resisting the urge to roll them in annoyance, he followed his boyfriend up the stairs to visit the Headmaster.

The twinkling blue-eyed Headmaster Albus Dumbledore smiled benignly at the two young men who entered his office. Before Severus or Lucius could explain what had happened, he offered, "Tea or lemon drop, gentlemen?"

When they both shook their heads, he continued, "Well then, what can I help you gentlemen with?"

Gulping air, Severus softly said, "Serenity - she - she spoke…"

Blinking once, the twinkling grew brighter in his deep sapphire orbs.

"Ah," was the Headmaster's reply. "And just what did you tell these young men, Sere?"

The little girl raised her head from Severus's shoulder, peering around the room, looking for the crimson phoenix that was usually perched on his stand. As if he knew what she was looking for, Albus answered her unasked question: "He's out on an errand, Serenity."

Her light-blue-lavender eyes turned to Albus's sapphire orbs. She gurgled in reply before looking up at Severus and announcing once again: "Wevy!" before pointing at her grandfather.

A smile broke out on the Headmaster's face. "Ah, you know the name of your caretaker, hmm, Sere?"

"Wevy!" she replied, her eyes sparkling with mirth and happiness.

Standing up from his chair, Albus came around his desk and took the cherub-faced baby from Severus. She immediately let go of Severus to clutch the violet robes of the headmaster before resting her head on his board shoulder then preceded to yawn once more.

"And what is the name of your other caretaker?"

The little girl blinked, then replied, "Wissy."

At that, Headmaster Dumbledore deeply chuckled, "I'm sure Narcissa doesn't take fondly to that name, does she, my dear?"

Serenity blinked, and cocking her head to the right, she turned and pointed to Lucius, who had an arm wrapped around Severus's waist. In a demanding tone repeated, "Wissy!"

Albus knit his brow at his granddaughter's actions before raising his sapphire orbs to meet the onyx eyes of Severus Snape. "I take it Ms. Narcissa Black has not been taking care of Serenity, has she, Severus?"

Severus and Lucius both froze at the question.

"Well," the headmaster thought aloud, "that answers that question."

Stroking his beard thoughtfully, he gently handed his granddaughter back to the open arms of Severus, who accepted the baby girl, her eyes fixed on the long white hair of his boyfriend.

After he was seated again, Headmaster Dumbledore laced his fingers together before he asked, "Mr. Lucius Malfoy, even though you are a seventh year and Head boy on top of that, would you be willing take on Narcissa Black's responsibilities of taking care of Serenity?"

Lucius immediately nodded, "I would be honored to, sir."

"Thank you, gentlemen. Have a wonderful evening. Sweet dreams, Serenity."

The little girl waved, then happily chirped, "Walbus!" as the two boys turned around and left the office. Albus chuckled at the new name from his adorable granddaughter, then thought, _'She is so much like her mother and grandmother… and she won't be able to meet either of them.'_

xXx

Twenty years later Serenity found herself searching for her former caretaker: one Severus Tobias Snape. She was walking down a curved road in muggle Wellington, looking for the Yellow Daisy restaurant Severus had wanted to meet up at. Glancing at the piece of crumbled paper in white-glove covered hands with scrawled directions on it. _'That man couldn't tell you his left from his right nor North from South. He's probably color blind to miss all the hideous colors of the brand new houses. Couldn't he at least tell me what kind of shops or buildings surround the darn restaurant? What am I going to do with him?'_

Sighing, she back tracked to her starting point and read the directions for the fourth time before slowly following them. As she made her third right onto La Roi Drive, she caught sight of a soft green building with white trimming and a brown porch from which a blue sign with a yellow daisy gently swung back and forth with the movements of the wind. _'I'm not sure how I missed that. Perhaps there is a charm over it…'_

When Serenity entered the petite, hide-away restaurant, she was expecting a bright atmosphere… not a dark, foreboding feeling that did not sit well with her. The walls were painted a deep brown with obscure paintings and artifacts that did not seem to belong in a restaurant called "The Yellow Daisy." As she approached the red haired waitress, who was busy doodling on the table chart, she softly asked, "Excuse me?"

Dull blue eyes turned up to look at her from behind glasses that slid down the waitress's pale, freckled nose. Pushing the glasses up, the waitress apologized before, "Do you have a reservation? For one?"

"No, reservation for two…" Serenity's voice drifted off, "under the name of Prince."

The waitress turned the papers behind her before skimming down the list with a black painted nail. "Hmm, hmm," she muttered as she flipped to the next page, where the name _Prince_was scrawled on the line.

"Ah, you're the first one here," then the waitress scrunched up her nose to hold her glasses in place. "Are you going to eat dinner or just talk over coffee?"

Serenity blinked; how was she supposed to know? She assumed they would be at the restaurant for quite a well, seeing as they had quite a lot to catch up on. "Um, I suppose we will be here for dinner."

Picking up a menu, the waitress urged Serenity to follow her with a wave of her hand before the white haired woman followed the weaving in and out of tables of the waitress to a corner booth tucked away into the side of the building with red drapes covering it. Before Serenity slid into the black leather seat, the waitress handed her the menu with a slight attitude before she skulked back to her post at the front of the restaurant.

Serenity shifted uneasily, tugging at the long violet skirt she wore, then focused on the menu, in search of something that sounded appetizing.

She only waited ten minutes for the former Potions Professor to boldly enter the restaurant, sneer at the several of the men seated and drinking beer, before he made his way back to the booth and quickly dismissed the waitress. At first, she didn't quite recognize him; after all, he had changed the color of his hair to a deep brown, cut it in a chic style, straightened his nose, and had blue eyes in place of the normal obsidian that reminded her of a good cup of coffee. What also threw her off was the fact that he was dressed in muggle clothes, much like she was; in fact, he looked marvelous and breathtaking in a crisp white dress shirt underneath a gray cardigan and blue slacks with a blue jacket thrown carelessly over his left shoulder.

He gently placed a kiss to her cheek before sliding into his seat. "I'm glad you could meet me here, Sere. Terribly sorry for being late."

She smiled, "I just got here."

A small smile crossed his face as quickly as it fell. Silence fell between them as he flipped open the menu and skimmed the choices of entrees. He softly inquired if she was ready to order once he had chosen; upon her nod, he called the waitress over and she scribbled down their orders before disappearing and reappearing with their drinks.

Chatting idly about the weather, Quidditch, recent happenings at Hogwarts, recent happenings in the Wizarding World of London, her time in Japan, and briefly discussing her grandfather, Serenity saw her former caretaker swallow without taking a drink and give the slightest shudder at her grandfather's name and she knew her guess had been right.

"Sev…" her voice lowered to the soft hum of hummingbird, "I know. I forgive you and understand why."

His glamoured eyes widened at her declaration before he bowed his head, shadowing his eyes from hers; a single tear slid down his face before he quickly swiped at it.

Until their dishes arrived, they sat in silence, their hands intertwined in the middle of the table. They immediately let go of the others' hand when the server appeared to deliver their dishes. Once the server left them, Severus brought up the topic of the open position of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Serenity giggled, then said, "That position truly is cursed, isn't it?"

Severus rolled his eyes at her childish accusation, but nodded nonetheless.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "How is Draco doing? Is there anything I need to buy for him?"

Serenity shook her head, "Young Mister Malfoy is a wonderful student, if a bit too eager. That worries me if he is trying to teach someone else in the same manner of teaching, but I'm not quite sure what to expect. And no, there are no materials required for him to learn the form of … defense, I am teaching him."

The Potions Master grunted, took a bite of his fish, slowly chewing, before asking, "Minerva asked you take over the DADA position, didn't she?"

The fork in Serenity's hand faltered before she successfully got the bite of chicken in her mouth. "Yes, Aunt Minnie asked me…"

Stabbing his food, Severus asked if she was going to accept the position.

"Well," she thought aloud, paused, then continued, "I'm still thinking about it. If I do accept, it will only be for roughly half of the school year… I still have unfinished business to attend to."

Her former caretaker made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat before he heard her ask, "Do you think I could teach Defense? I don't think I would be cut out for it. I mean, I haven't step foot in Hogwarts since I was a mere babe, Sev; do you really think I could handle seeing that place again?"

Without giving him time to respond, Serenity softly asked, "Tell me about the classes being taught at Hogwarts since I've been gone, Sev," as she raised her eyes from the plate of food she was picking with her fork.

Clearing his throat, Severus began to tell her about her Auntie Minnie teaching Transfiguration, he explained that he had taught Potions until he was accepted to teach Defense, whereupon he was replaced by Professor Slughorn. He grumbled about Professor Trelawney, who taught Divination, before he briefly touched on the History of Magic being taught by Binns (she laughed at hearing the ghost was still droning on about the wars of the trolls).

Then he jumped into the Defense teachers (who were a pathetic bunch of simpering fools, according to Severus) Quirrell, who had worn a turban to disguise having Lord Voldemort on the back of his head, Lockhart, who was an attention-loving, bumbling fraud (and was in desperate need of a therapist, in his utmost opinion), Lupin, who he admitted had actually taught the students descent materials, Mad-Eye Moody, who apparently hadn't been the real Mad-Eye but an imposter named Barty Crouch Jr., and right before he had taught the brats, was a woman named Umbridge, who - he explained - essentially took over the entire school because she worked for the Ministry.

Their discussion came to a halt, as the busboy picked up their dishes, before scampering off, and the waitress brought their ordered desserts.

"Tell me about Harry Potter, Sev." Serenity treaded on thin ice with the subject, but she needed to know what he knew about the young man she was tutoring.

Severus's face turned a dark shade of red as his now-normal-colored-obsidian eyes narrowed and pointed to her fingers. "_**He**_ was the cause of the burns to your hands. **His** _**son**_is no better than he was while in school. Arrogant, sneaky, self-righteous, and an affinity for breaking the rules."

Staring at her trembling glove-covered hands, she calmly replied, "And if my memory serves me correctly, _I_ **did** get my revenge on James."

The color drained from the Potions master's face, before Serenity continued: "Please don't give me assumptions about James's son, Sev. I have met the boy, myself; in fact, I am teaching him much the same I am teaching Draco."

xXx

Despite there being silencing charms on the booth the white haired and black haired couple were sitting, the waitress was pleased with herself and softly cackled while she hid in the kitchen, "Master will be pleased with me, I have laid eyes on her!"

xXx

When Serenity returned to Dumbledore Manor, she was surprised to find the rest of her band mates from Moonlight strew about couches and chairs in the living room, talking animatedly with Sakura and Amairé. The three brothers, Yaten, Seiya, and Taiki, all wore grim faces, while Haruka and Michiru wore matching looks of pity. _'Horrible news,' _Serenity thought mindlessly, _'I assume it has to do with Kakyuu-chan, seeing as she's not here.'_

"Koneko _(Kitten)_, we have some… news for you," came the deep, yet equally soft, voice of Haruka. Looking at her wife, she took a deep breath before standing up and pulling the white haired young woman out of the room. In the hallway, Haruka looked into the sapphire orbs of her hime and explained: "While we were searching for those Horcruxes, Kakyuu-hime went missing, for a brief period of time. None of us are sure where she ended up going, but we found her body. Michiru and I have a strong belief it was the work of Chaos; however, we have no proof and we know that you sealed Chaos."

Pausing in her speech, the sandy haired woman embraced her koneko as she began crying, before saying, "Yaten, Seiya, and Taiki have a feeling she was on the right path for a horcrux. We're not sure how else to explain it. They know that her spirit has been reborn, and they were wondering if you had any idea of where it would be likely to show up."

Hiccupping, Serenity demurely replied, "Hogwarts. That building reeks of magic, so it's probably nurturing and protecting her reborn spirit from harm."

"I'm sorry I had to break her death to you… it's why we returned so suddenly." Haruka comfortingly rubbed the back of her hime _(princess)_. "We did find two more of the Horcruxes, though."


End file.
